


"What Do You Mean..."

by acoolegg



Series: Superheroes Are Fucking Chill: A Series of Marvel Heroes and You [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Reader Insert, Reader-Insert, Romance, S.H.I.E.L.D., fem!reader - Freeform, garbage, ily capn, steve is gross and fluffy and i love it, thinking about bumping the rating up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-01
Updated: 2015-10-14
Packaged: 2018-04-07 02:51:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 33,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4246650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acoolegg/pseuds/acoolegg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"...I can't rickroll Cap? That's like, my one goal in life."<br/>Steve stared at you, then looked at Tony from over his shoulder. "What's a rickroll?" Your snicker did not make him feel any better.<br/>------<br/>You're an average, college-bound girl. You like the internet, your vocabulary is a disgusting combination of memes and intelligence, and--wait, crap, how could you forget--you can fucking control water. Fuck yeah, hopefully that means you can beer-bend, too.<br/>Wait, what do you mean that the Avengers have found you out!? Crap!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I need an adult

Life had been good to you in the sense that you didn’t stand out whatsoever. It was nice, not being noticed. A diamond in the rough, another fish in the sea. Or would it be sea in the fish, in your case? Fuck, water-wielding was weird. You just wanted to bloodbend, like in LoK. You could do so much cool shit with bloodbending…

But today was the day life decided to fuck you over. New York City could be a boring place at times, despite the hustle and bustle of the people there. Boring times always attracted the worst kind of action, and it seemed this day was like all the others. A bomb in a subway. _Your_ subway, for Christ’s sake. God, fuck, damnit.

The morning had started out normal enough. You commuted from the apartment you and your parents shared to your art college in the city after eating a delicious bagel from Panera. You said good morning to the homeless man that sat outside the station, slipping him a couple dollars from your recent paycheck. He had smiled at you before you got on the train.

Sitting in your usual spot, sipping on a juice box, jamming to music… It was going to be a good day. Until the next thing you heard was a loud ‘boom!’ and suddenly, the train was derailing and chunks of the ceiling are falling through the metal.

You were launched to the other side of the train. Assorted objects flew around you, and the scent of gasoline and fire was almost too much to bear. Through the wreckage, when everything had settled down, you could see the fire start to lick at gasoline that was near you and a few other civilians.

One spark set the entirety of the gas aflame, but you swung your arms up and over your head, water from the pipes in the railway forming a shield in front of you and the others.

_You just royally fucked yourself, (F/Name), good fucking job._

The fire pressed against the water-shield, but you ground your teeth together and pushed the shield forward. It took the fire into itself, powering it down to ash and dust. Your breath came out in heavy pants, protecting yourself and others from the fire and then _getting rid of_ said fire had really taken it out of you.

Turning behind you with a nervous smile, you waved at the people. One man had his phone out, camera pointed at you. You thanked yourself for wearing a scarf, and you quickly pulled it over your mouth and nose. You didn’t know if he had somehow gotten his phone out to take a video but you weren’t taking any chances.

You took off in a dead sprint, but ten yards down the way you had to slow down because you were getting out of breath. You spent the rest of the ‘run’ looking for ladders to the surface, like you had seen in video games. After a while of searching, your attempts were rewarded with success. Climbing out of the manhole, you landed in the middle of the road. One car didn’t look like it was going to stop.

_Ah, fuck it. You’ve already fucked up. Make it worse for yourself. Kiss that summer in Cabo with a rich old husband goodbye._

You manipulated water around you, still thankful for the scarf pulled around your mouth and nose, and stopped the car by wrapping tendrils of the water around the tires. You looked around, seeing more cameras out then ever before, then looked for an escape route.

You looked up to see your school, and you were thankful. Walking away like nothing had even happened, you stepped into your school and went to the bathroom. Immediately, you stripped of the scarf and jacket you had been wearing. You took your laptop and phone (both of which had somehow come out of a train crash with minimal damage… what the fuck?) out of your bag and shoved the clothes into that, then shoved that bag into the trash. Hopefully this would cover your tracks long enough.

You dialed a familiar set of numbers.

Your mother answered. “Sweetheart? Oh God, I saw the news, are you alright?”

“Mommy,” you sniffled before bursting into disgusting tears, “I need an adult!!!”


	2. Are you fucking kidding me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another day, another superhero dollar for S.H.I.E.L.D.

You had spent the rest of the day locked in the bathroom stall of your building. Yeah, the rest of the day. You weren’t bored, though. Again, your laptop had somehow made it through the wreck. You spent the hours upon hours on the internet, frequently checking new tags on Twitter. One had gotten trending.

_#watergirlwaterudoing_

Of course your tag was a stupid fucking pun. Literally like what the fuck. Who the fuck. Thousands of people probably died in that wreck and people were making puns. _Are you fucking kidding me?_ They better be kidding. You’d stab a bitch with a water sword. Puns are the devil unless you were the one making them.

When the sounds of the last students leaving the campus flooded past the door to the bathroom, you closed your laptop and pocketed your phone. You stood up and unlocked the stall, nearly screaming when a woman with bright red hair stood in front of you. “HOLY FUCKING CHRIST ALMIGHTY SHIT.” You fell backwards, managing to keep a firm hold on your laptop as the lady looked down at you, an amused smile on her face.

“Oh, Cap’s gonna have fun with you.” Cap? Who the fuck was Cap? Who the fuck was _this lady_?

“Uh, excuse me, ma’am, but I’m currently sitting on the ground of a disgusting public restroom in front of a woman dressed in what appears to be,” you glanced her up and down, “kevlar and latex. I’m a bit confused as to what you want with me? Who’re you?” You didn’t mean to sound sarcastic or rude… It was just who you were.

“I’m Natasha Romanov.” You squinted your eyes at her stupidly. The name sounded familiar but... 

“Oh my God! You’re the lady from my house a few years ago! The, the uh,” you snapped your fingers, “that organization for the young and gifted!” You smiled at her, standing up without your hands touching the ground and patting your pants off. Extending one of your hands, you said, “Wow, Miss Romanov, you’ve changed a lot. You were in a business suit last time I saw you.” She shook your hand.

“I’m not here about the organization for the young and gifted.” You tilted your head in confusion. “I’m here about you, Watergirl.”

Oh God had the scientist found out about you in the span of six hours!? HOW!?!?

She chuckled, “Don’t look so surprised, (F/Name).” She knew your name. Oh fuck. “If you really wanted to disappear, the first step would’ve been throwing your clothes and bag away and then _leaving_ the place they were in.”

“Okay, I’ll admit, I did not think this one through.” You sighed, “Now… what do you want with me?” Your voice became squeakier. “I’m just a normal girl with water powers, please don’t cut my insides open.”

Natasha openly laughed at this, “We won’t cut you open.” She dug inside the leather jacket she wore over her kevlar, pulling out a bi-fold wallet. She flipped it open, revealing a shiny badge with “S.H.I.E.L.D.” written on it. You blinked at the badge in awe, mouth open. “You’ve been on our radar for a while now.”

Your gaze shot up to lock with hers. “Me? But… But I’ve never used my powers except for at home.”

She smiled knowingly, “We have our ways. We were just waiting to see what you could do.” Then, she locked eyes with you. “We’d like to learn more about your abilities at S.H.I.E.L.D. if you don’t mind. Maybe… we could train you to be the first Avenger.”

Again, you tilted your head in confusion. “Avenger?”

Another knowing smile, “Would you like to ditch this nowhere college and fight evil?”

Oh, she hit you right in your weak spot. Your superhero dreams. Ever since you were young you had read the DC comic books. Batman, Superman… They were who you aspired to be.

“I mean…”

“We can give you a costume and everything.”

“Oh my God. I’m sold.”

“Good. Come with me.”


	3. Pics or it didn't happen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They said he was old? But, what the heck? He's really hot, not old.

Standing in the doorway of your old room, you looked around and sighed. It had been nearly two months since Natasha took you on, and you were only just now getting your stuff. They had issued you a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform, stating that if you were apart of the organization you needed to dress like it.

After giving Natasha the puppydog eyes and a pouty lip, she relented and said that yes, you could get your old stuff and wear it. So here you were. Standing in your old room, looking at the posters of superheroes and bands that hung on your wall. Your parents were out of the house, not knowing that you were there for their protection.

Life had gotten a little more interesting since they (Natasha and her bff/partner Clint) started teaching you. You were out with them on missions constantly, your body needing to be in perfect shape for running. But with being out on missions came getting new enemies. Cartels, rival organizations, mini bad guys… You were starting to amass our own arsenal of villains.

Ten years worth of teaching, they had crammed into two months. And you had ten more years to go.

Jesus fuck, you’re getting off topic.

You packed up quickly, pulling a phone out and calling up a few guys to get your stuff. They carried it out to a black hummer, and you left your parents a note.

_’Lol you guys weren’t home and I needed some stuff for my J.O.B.!!! Love yous~ (F)’_

Looking back at the now empty room, you quickly left. Natasha said you were supposed to talk to someone important today. You didn’t know who.

*_*_*_*_*

You tugged on a comfortable blue hoodie (yeah, yeah. ‘OMG Watergirl’s wearing blue!’ Get over it, please.) and some comfortable sweats, only being told that you would be training at an old timey gym with an older gentleman. You had only shrugged when told that; wasn’t a big deal to you at all.

You were in the gym’s locker room--the _only_ locker room at that. You had to change in a stall with guys. But, you survived. You walked out, looking over the gym and eyeing the place curiously. It was nice enough, with a smell that could only be described as masculine in the air. All sweat and blood and gross BO.

The sound of someone hitting a punching bag caught your attention, and you glanced at the man doing the punching. Tall. Handsome. _Blond._ Oh God, (F/Name). Keep your thirst to yourself, girl. You shoved your hands into your pockets and walked over to him, eyeing his form. He was perfect. Uh! Perfectly formed. Perfectly formed, haha.

He seemed a little suspicious of you watching him so closely, ‘cause he stopped after a few more punches and turned to you, breathing semi-heavily. “Can I, uh, help you miss?”

Assignment/hey-go-do-this-thing-for-your-training popping back into your head, you smiled at him. “Hi! I’m (F/Name). I’m looking for, uh,” you pulled out the paper in your jacket’s pocket, reading it off, “Steve? My friends set me up with a training day with him.” You put your fists up in mock-fighting stance. “Gotta get strong, y’know?”

The blond stared at you for a second, then nodded. “And these friends of yours…”

“They’re crazy, yeah. Say I need to learn to control my own strength.” You were so good at lying hell yeah. Well… It wasn’t really a lie. They did say you needed to learn self-control when it came to fighting. Natasha did, at least. She said you alway wore yourself out too fast.

“Well, you’re looking at Steve then.” You looked up at him, tilting your head to the side in confusion. “What?”

“They said my trainer would be…” Glancing around, you leaned forward and said, “Old. You sure you’re the right Steve?” He nodded--oh God those beautiful teeth--and smiled. You nearly fainted, but you recovered with a smile of your own. “Okay, then, Steve. Shall we get started?”

*_*_*_*_*

Literally _fuck_ Natasha and Clint. First off, they said it would be an old guy. Second off, they didn’t mention he was hot and looked around your age (maybe a little older? He looked like he was in his twenties, though.). And third off! They didn’t tell you he would whip your _entire. Fucking. Ass._ You thought endless days of Natasha’s hands on ‘Imma fuck you up’ training was bad? Wrong! Three hours in and you were lying on the floor, completely spent.

“Okay,” insert wheeze here, “Steve. You are one _hell_ of a teacher.” His lips pulled into a small smirk as he stared down at you from your spot on the ground.

“Thank you, Miss (F/Name).” He extended a hand, helping you up onto weak legs. You smiled at him, body shaking from exertion. “You put up a lot better fight than what I was expecting.”

“Yeah, yeah, once I got you passed that whole ‘I can’t hit girls.’ You didn’t even have to hit, just block. And then, _wha-bam!_ You taught me how to punch properly and I’m gonna kick so many asses now.” You faked a kick, followed by a punch, before laughing on your weak legs. “Man, Steve, thanks.” You looked up at him, full smile on. He was really sweet.

He smiled back, “You’re welcome.”

Your phone, which laid on a nearby bench, chose to vibrate at that moment. You shrugged, unzipping your jacket and airing yourself out as you picked it up. A message from Natasha.

‘So.... how’d it go?’

‘I’m gonna kick your freaking butt at practice tomorrow I S2G!!...also I met a really hot guy.’

‘Really?’

‘Yeye.’

‘Pics.’

‘Or what?’

‘Or it didn’t happen.’

‘dAMN YOU NAT!!’


	4. What is this I don't even

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha and Clint are gone, and Fury wants you to join the Guard Duty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oops i accidentally the avengers movie

Another two months had flown by, and you were more experienced with fighting and holding your own. You also knew how to conserve stamina and distribute yourself evenly, thanks to the training of Steve, Natasha, and Clint. The bffs treated you like a child, despite the fact that you were twenty-two. Well. Not like _a_ child. More like _their_ child. They took special care to make sure you were taken care of, taking extra time on lessons with you.

So, imagine your surprise when you showed up to your lessons one day with no one there. Well, not one of your _teacher_ at least. Nick Fury stood in the middle of the room, one eye locked on you and a devious smirk on his face.

“(F/Name) (L/Name).”

“Nick Fury?” You didn’t know where this was going, but it felt like that was the best response. “To what do I owe the please, sir?” He motioned towards a table sat on the side of the room, a large, holographic screen displayed above it. You walked over to it, examining the screen. In your four months at S.H.I.E.L.D., you had become accustomed to their freaking fantastic tech. On the screen was a bunch of jumbled things that you didn’t really comprehend.

“You, Rookie, are coming with me.”

“Uh… for what?” You tried to make either heads or tails of the screen, but that didn’t happen. All you saw was ‘Tesseract.’ Yeah, what the fuck was that?

“There’s been a sudden turn of events, and I need you on guard duty.”

“G… guard duty?” You visibly paled, feeling a bit of sweat drip down the side of your face. “Uh, I don’t really think I’m qualified for that--”

“You don’t really have a choice, Watergirl.” You frowned at the name. When you dreamt of becoming a superhero, you wanted a cool name like ‘Blue Angel’ or ‘Aqua Marine.’ Not… _Watergirl._ With a shrug of his shoulders, he started to walk out.

You begrudgingly followed, shoving hands into your blue hoodie’s pockets. “Should I bring _it_?” you asked, mouth twisting. You really didn’t think you should be doing this.

“Yeah. Bring that.”

You nodded, turning towards your room to go grab it.

*_*_*_*_*_*

One helicopter ride later, you were at a large complex. You could see people shoving briefcases into cars and vans before running and fleeing the place. You assumed, what with your _mad skills_ that the complex was under destruction. Or attack. Or about to explode.

No one had really informed you of what in the fuck was happening.

Getting off the helicopter, surfboard in hand, you saw Phil Coulson standing before you. “Ahhh! Phil!!!” you squealed, running towards him. He tried to keep his firm state, but he smiled slightly when you said, “Hiiiii!”

Fury and your ‘boss’, Agent Hill, followed you out of the helicopter. Fury walked up to Coulson, all intimidating and commander-y, “How bad is it?”

Hill stood at the ready, waiting for something to jump out at you. Phil removed his sunglasses to look at the director, “That’s the problem, sir. We don’t know.”

Fury looked at you, regarding your position before smirking. “Watergirl, you’re relieved of guard duties.” You stared at him with a confused face, eyes wide and mouth pulled into a frown. “Instead, help these people,” he pointed to the fleeing workers, “load up and get out.”

Pulling the specially-made mask over your eyes, you nodded and smiled. “Oh, sweet.” You twirled your hands, drawing water from the ground to surround you in large tendrils. “I’ll do my absolute best, sir.” Fury smirked at you before walking off. Once he was out of sight, your giggled. “Sydney,” your board beeped in response as you set her on the water. You stepped onto her purple and blue paint, smirking as your feet were locked into place. “Let’s do this.”

The board took off, and with the aid of your powers, she stayed on the water. You manipulated the water to go right over people, stopping when you saw kids. Okay, first priority: get the people out. Second priority: get the tech out. You manipulated the water to drop slightly, a still wave holding you above ground. The children gazed at you with wide eyes. “Hey, kiddos,” you saluted them, “you need help?” They nodded.

*_*_*_*_*_*

There was one small tremor, but you and the scientists had ignored it as you loaded up trucks with tech.

When the second tremor came through, you saw people running away faster. You saw Phil instructing some guards to leave tech behind.

The place really was going to explode.

Fuck!

You yelled at people to get in cars as a third, more powerful tremor shook the earth. As soon as everyone you could see was in a car that was taking off, you were gathering more water into your wave and trying your hardest to get away.

Your radio buzzed, “Watergirl, you out?” It was Phil.

“I’m good, P, I’m good.” With a small frown, you said, “Everyone else out?”

The building exploded, nearly knocking you off your board.

Two more minutes of silence went by as you rushed to get away. Once the building had settled, you lowered yourself to the ground, picking Sydney up and looking at the rubble.

“Director? Director Fury, do you copy?”

“The Tesseract is with a hostile force. I have men down… Hill?”

Your female ‘boss’s’ voice came through, “I’ve got a lot of men still under… Don’t know how many survivors.”

“Sound the general call. I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that briefcase.”

Hill’s voice came through softly, “Roger that.”

“Coulson, get back to base. This is a level seven. As of right now… we are at war.”

You frowned, clicking your radio off and staring at the rubble. “Jesus, what is this? I don’t even… ugh…”


	5. Shit just got real

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My Captain, my Captain? Wait, _YOU'RE_ my Captain!?

“(F/Name), get up.” Your eyes groggily opened up, seeing one Nick Fury glaring down at you.

“Whataya wan’, Directa?” you slurred sleepily, rubbing gross eye-boogers away. You sat up, looking at him evenly (albeit sleepily). “What’s up?”

“That gym Agent Romanov set you up with… We’re going to it.” He didn’t leave any room for questioning, but that wasn’t going to stop you.

“But it’s like…” You glanced at your alarm clock, “Four A.M.?” His glare paired with that unamused frown made you shrug. “Okay, okay. Let’s go, let’s go.” You stood up and he walked out, leaving you to put on some clothes. Dressed in what you wear to workout (a tank top, hoodie, sweats, socks, and sneakers) you walked out, hands in your pockets. Fury merely walked ahead of you. “What are we doing this early?”

“Remember what Agent Romanov said to you the day you saved a lot of people from that bomb?” You don’t recall saving a lot of people…? Like, maybe ten. You nodded anyways. “The Avengers are going to assemble.” You blinked groggily. The Avengers? Assemble? Jesus Christ… “And we need Captain America for that.”

Your heart skyrocketed. “Captain America? Woah… He goes to my gym? What the hell?” You followed him to a good old fashion _huge ass SUV_ and got in.

*_*_*_*_*

Walking into the gym late at night was the last thing you expected. The second thing you didn't expect was to see Steve wailing on a punching bag. After one particularly hard hit, the bag ripped open and spilled sand everywhere. Your eyes went wide. You knew Steve was strong but… Not _that_ strong…

What if…

Shit…

He easily picked up another bag, hanging it up and starting to wail on it again.

Nick broke the silence, “Trouble sleeping?”

Steve stopped, glanced at Nick, before setting his head against the bag. Oh shit. OH SHIT! FUCKING. WHAT THE HELL!? THEY KNEW EACH OTHER!

You made an exaggerated face of surprise, still hiding behind Fury. “I slept for seventy years, sir, I’ve had my fill.”

Seventy… Years? OH SHIT! _Shit just got real…_ Your exaggerated face of surprise was only added to with a slight jaw drop.

“Then you should be out. Celebrating. Enjoying the world.” Nick sounded completely apathetic as he walked forward. Steve continued to punch the bag, and you took that moment to jump behind a small wall to hide yourself. You couldn’t really bring yourself to look at him.

You had been training with Captain America for two months, not even making the connections along the way. You were so fucking clueless. So _fucking. Clueless._

You heard the shuffle of feet and the sound of clothes rustling, “I went under, the world as at war. I wake up, they say we won. They didn’t say what we lost.”

“We made some mistakes along the way.” You were going to have to ask Fury how to teach you how to be so completely apathetic all the time. Could be useful. “Some… very recently.”

“You here with a mission sir?” Steve asked after a moment of silence.

Fury responded immediately. “I am.”

“Tryna get me back into the world?”

Papers rustled. “Trying to save it.”

“HYDRA’s secret weapon…” They must’ve been looking at the files.

“Howard Stark _fished_ that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think: the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That’s something the world sorely needs.”

More rustling papers, “Who took it from you?”

“He’s called Loki. He’s… not from around here.” You had been brought up to speed on Loki and the Tesseract, but not on the possible Avengers. JFC, Fury, a girl needs help when she’s _flirting with Captain America unknowingly._ “There’s a lot we’ll have to bring you up to speed on if you’re in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know.”

“At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me.” It sounded like he was getting up.

“Ten buck says you’re wrong.” You peeked your head out from behind the corner, seeing Steve pick up a bag with ease. “There’s a debriefing packet at your apartment, and I have an agent here that’s willing to help you understand it.” He started walking away, but stopped and glance over at the wall you were hiding behind.

“You bring backup in case I decided to fight or something?” he asked, almost offended.

You could _feel_ Fury’s smug grin. “Not at all. The agent I brought is a friend of yours.” You continued to behind the wall. Oh God please don’t call--“Hey, you gonna show him your face or what?”

You cringed, “I’d uh, rather not? Not right now. I’m uh, kinda processing things.” You tapped your fingers against your skull, “Like, holy shit. I’ve been--”

“(F/Name)?”

You let out a defeated sigh, “Uh. Yeah. Hi, Steve. Er, Cap? Mister America? I don’t know. Please don’t hold me accountable for anything I say and/or do right now. I’m still in the process of understanding that I was, for lack of a better word, set up to train with Captain America.”

“Watergirl-”

“-Watergirl?-”

“-get out here and go help him with the files.”

You swore that Nick loved seeing your squirm sometimes.

Stepping out of your hidey hole, you lowered your hood and stared at Steve. He stared back, looking almost disappointed. That you were an agent? That you weren’t normal? You managed a weak smile, looking at the ground and kicking your feet back and forth.

Steve sighed, turning and walking away. After a moment of staring after him, you scampered off behind him. Fury asked one last thing before the two of you left. “Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?”

The blond sounded bitter, “You should’ve left it in the ocean.” You just kept quiet as you walked behind him, hands twisting behind your back.


	6. Close Enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Watergirl isn't your alias!? YAAAAAAAAAAS

You two walked back to his apartment in relative silence, both of you scared to talk to the other. It was weird, being in Steve’s presence and not talking about something. Forms, what you were doing later, what you did earlier… You two were always talking during training. And the silence was just unnerving.

Looking over at him, you glanced at the bag in his hand. Surely carrying the punching bag and his regular bag at the same time was hard? “Uh… I can take your bag, if you want.” That caught his attention. Big, blue eyes looked down at you, and you stared up at him. “It must be hard, y’know… Carrying the punching bag and your bag.”

“It… It really isn’t.” He sounded a little unsure of himself. “So…” You had apparently gotten the conversation ball a-rollin’. “You’re an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D.” You shrugged, twirling your hands absentmindedly. “How long have you been one?”

“I mean… I’m not really an _agent._ More of a… superhero-in-training?” Steve looked down at you, watching as you stared up at the night sky absentmindedly. “Yeah, I guess that’s what I am. They said they wanted me as an Avenger. So they took me in after an accident, trained me. Never said why, though.”

He sounded curious as he said, “Accident?”

“That bombing in the New York Subway four months ago? Apparently I, uh, saved a lot of people.” You rubbed the back of your head awkwardly, “Honestly, I remember video cameras being pointed my way. That’s about it. I don’t remember much else about it.”

“What’s your power?” he asked.

You looked around for bystanders before twirling your hands and drawing water from the drains out and around you. “I can control water.” You moved the water around you, creating individual waves to crash into one another. “That’s why they call me Watergirl.”

He seemed to be in awe, “How’d you…”

You finished, “Get it?” You shrugged your shoulders, playing with the water a bit more. You let it slither back into the drains before sighing. “Mom says I was born with it. Apparently, when I was younger, I’d make fish out of water and they’d be semi-sentient.” You looked back up at the sky, continuing to walk with him.

Steve looked at you in surprise, “Born with it?”

“Yeah. Mom and Dad worked with radiation, and I was an unexpected baby.” You shrugged again, “They suspect the radiation did something freaky with my body, but hey.” Sighing, you stopped when he stopped. “So you’re Captain America, huh?”

He smiled slightly, “I’m surprised you didn’t figure it out sooner.”

You grinned up at him, “Well, I figured it out now so that’s close enough, right?” A soft chuckle was shared between you two, and he led you into an apartment building. In his mailbox (which he unlocked to check) was a tablet. You knew most of what was on said tablet, but some of it… Would be new to you as well.

He took you up to his apartment next, and you looked around it. It was sparse, nearing empty, with some furniture here and there. The only things that even hinted at him living there was an old record player and some books laying around. “Come on, Fury said you’d help me out.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Uh, here’s the thing…” You followed him to a table, where you both sat down. “I’m a little new to this whole ‘superhero’ business. and I’ve only recently been brought up to date on all this stuff. So I might not be the best source to go to when asking questions.”

Steve stared at you from across the table, seemingly contemplating something. “Then why would Fury send you here?”

“Because Fury like to watch me freak out. Thinks it’ll make me tougher, I guess?” You sighed, setting your head against the table and letting your shoulders slump. “But, pop ‘er open, man. See what’s in there for us.”

He opened the tablet up, and immediately, you saw ‘Tesseract’ on screen in bold. He read over it, seemingly comprehending everything it took your three to four hours to even start to understand. You just sat there patiently, waiting for the part you really wanted: who the other Avengers would be.

Steve slid the tablet your way, the information on the possible Avengers pulled up. Picking the tablet up, you scrolled through.

‘Anthony “Tony” Stark. Alias Iron Man.  
Cocky, arrogant, self-centered, doesn’t play well with others.  
Born genius of the Stark Industry. Built the Iron Man suit.’

“They want _Iron Man_ on the Avengers. Holy crap!” You snickered at his ‘cons.’

‘Bruce Banner. Alias The Hulk.  
Quick to anger, reserved.  
Another genius that experimented with Gamma radiation in an effort to recreate the super soldier serum.’

You had heard about the Hulk. Didn’t know he wasn’t green all the time.

‘Thor.  
Not from this world.  
Noble and brave.’

Thor had made an appearance quite a bit ago, if you remembered correctly.

‘Steven “Steve” Rogers. Alias Captain America.  
Stubborn.  
Natural leader. Was frozen then unfrozen seventy years later. First successful super soldier.’

You smiled at him as you scrolled.

‘Natasha Romanov. Alias Black Widow.  
Manipulative.  
Trained assassin.

Clint Barton. Alias Hawkeye.  
Partially deaf.  
Excellent with a bow.’

Ah, they were considering those two? They’d make a good addition to the team. You set the tablet down, but your finger swiped across the screen.

On it was a picture of you, and a video of you using your powers.

‘(F/Name) (L/Name). Alias unknown.  
Childish, foul mouthed, immature, slow on the draw.’

You frowned. “What the fuck!? I’m not childish! I’m great. I’m the best. And I don’t have a fucking foul mou--shit! Fuck! I mean crap! Ugh!” Steve just shrugged and left you to grope and groan about it. You continued to read.

‘Water manipulation powers. Generally peaceful. Trained by Romanov and Barton. Accepts the joking nickname ‘Watergirl.’’

You smiled slightly, shaking your head. “So Watergirl really isn’t my superhero name. Good. I thought of so many cool superhero names when I was a kid…”

He smiled slightly. “Like what?”

“Well, my favorite color is Aquamarine, and I thought it had a nice ring to it.” You waved your hands in the air, mimicking a sign as you said, “Aquamarine, child of water.” This got a full smile.

“Aquamarine, huh?” You nodded. “Well, let’s hope it catches on.” Extending his hand, he said, “It’ll be nice working with you, Aqua.”

You winked, “Same with you, Cap.”


	7. Facepalm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the helicarrier, we've got fun and games.

Fury had literally just left you with Steve. Like, not even a ‘hey (F/Name) we know that you’re back in NYC but uh yeah we’re just gonna leave.’ He just up and left. Which was okay, you guess. Steve let you sleep on his couch after he told you he was in, and you had called in a jet to take you two out.

So, on said jet, you were sitting beside Steve and glaring at Phil. For some reason, you had a feeling he was the one that wrote the bios on all the probable Avengers. But you decided to just stay quiet, your headphones in and music blasting. You didn’t care if everyone heard it. It was a good song.

After a few moments, Phil stood up and approached you two. You glanced up at him curiously, not taking your headphones out until you saw that he was rambling. “I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping.” Oh my God. Oh my God. You facepalmed at the awkwardness of the statement. Steve stood up as Phil tried to recover. You pat the agent’s thigh, trying to tell him to just stop while he was ahead. “I mean, I was present while you were… unconscious… in the ice.” He followed the blond, causing you to roll your eyes. “You know, it’s really… it’s just a huge honor to have you on board.”

“Well, I hope I’m the man for the job.” They were looking out the window above the cockpit.

“Oh, you are. Absolutely. Uh… we’ve made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input.”

Steve looked at him, surprised, “The uniform? Aren’t stars and stripes a little… old fashioned?”

“With everything that's happening, the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old fashioned.” Steve looked at him. Then, Phil glanced at you. “We got you a uniform, too, (F/Name).”

“Please tell me it’s comfy. I can’t run in spandex and stuff.”

“We’ve made it to your specifications.”

You smiled widely. “Yaaaay!”

*_*_*_*_*_*

When the jet landed and you got off, the first thing you noticed was Natasha. You ran up to her, “Nat! Oh man, how was that thing you had to do?” She ruffled your hair, and you followed her as she approached Steve and Phil.

“It was good. I got what I needed, even if it was cut short.”

Phil nodded at Natasha. “Agent Romanov…” He motioned towards Steve with his head, “Captain Rogers.”

“Ma’am.”

“Hi…” She glanced at Phil. “They need you on the bridge, they’re starting the face trace.”

He walked away, “See you there.”

Natasha looked at you, then at Steve. “We’ll give you the grand tour, Captain.” She motioned for you two to follow her.

They made small talk for a while, you just following mindlessly. You had been on this ship for four months, yet every time you saw how freaking huge it was you freaked out. It was so huge. So freaking big.

“Doctor Banner!” You looked for the man you had seen in the picture, and you saw him awkwardly walking towards your little group.

“Oh, yeah, hi.” The two men shook hands. “They told me you’d be coming.”

“Word is you can find the cube.”

“Is that the only word on me?”

“The only word I care about.”

After a moment of regarding each other, Banner said, “It must be strange for you, all this.”

“Well, this is actually kind of familiar.” They approached the side of the ship, and Natasha tapped your shoulder.

“Come on, let’s get these two inside. We’re going up in a moment.” She approached the two men, and you followed, sticking a hand in your hoodie’s pockets. “Gentlemen, you might wanna step inside in a minute. It’s gonna get a little hard to breath.”

The helicarrier started to shake, and you knew you were getting ready to sail.

“Is this a submarine?”

“Really? They want me in a submerged, pressurized, metal container?” They walked closer to the side, seeing the fans starting up. You smiled. “Oh no. This is _much worse_.”

“Come on, guys!” You smiled at them, getting their attention. “Let’s go. I like breathing, you know?”


	8. Yo dawg

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shoot to cry because you fucked up your first impression with Iron Man.

You had been in your room, relaxing and playing on your laptop, when a knock came from your door. You took a headphone out, “Yo?” Steve popped his head through the door, and you noticed him taking in the posters on your walls. Then he looked at the clothes scattered on the ground, then the books, then the fact that you had little fish floating around the top of your room in a floating water maze.

“Fury… wants us to head out. We’ve got a mission.” You nodded, raising a hand and flowing the water back into a tank. Seven neon colored fish swam around mindlessly, and you noticed that Steve watched you with semi-awed eyes. “Your powers are really beautiful.” You smiled, standing up and walking towards your closet. Opening up the doors, you could see a costume in the back.

A blue, waterproof sweatshirt overtop a black kevlar one piece suit. There was a purple belt that looked to be filled with water, and black combat boots for you to wear. A blue mask was at the top.

“Ah, man,” you whistled, “I love it when Phil listens to me!”

*_*_*_*_*_*

Bullhorned-man, wait, _Loki_ was having a ball preaching to the people before him. They all looked so frightened, so worried. You wanted to take all the water from the fountain and just choke him with it. But Steve wouldn’t let you.

It wasn’t until an old man stood up, defying the crazed demigod’s wishes, that you and he showed up. He jumped from a building, protecting the old man from Loki’s scepter shot of death. You stood above him, staring down. Opening a cap on your belt, you pulled water around you, wrapping yourself in the ocean’s embrace. It acted as your safety blanket.

“You know,” Steve--no, he was _Cap_ right now--said, “Last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing.”

“The soldier.” Loki laughed, “The man out of time.”

“I’m not the one that’s out of time.” Natasha brought the jet in, aiming the gun on it at the demigod.

Nat’s voice came from across the speakers, “Loki, drop the weapon and stand down.” This apparently pissed the man off, because he fired a shot at the jet. Instantly, you drew water from a fountain out and shot it towards the blue ball of energy, causing it to fizzle out.

All chaos let loose from there. “Cap, I’m comin’ down!” you yelled, picking Sydney up and jumping off the building. The water moved to cradle you as you fell, and you landed in its soft touch. Sydney beeped, and you smiled at the board. Someone had managed to give her some sort of friendly AI, and you loved it. “Let’s do this, Syd.”

You jumped on the board, drawing more water from around you and creating a bubble around Cap and Loki.

“Nat, can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear. What are you doing?” You opened the top of the bubble up, hoping that the walls would keep the danger away from the people. You could almost hear the smirk in her voice. “Nice job, Aqua.” You blushed; who had told her? Cap, probably.

Music took over the PA system, and you turned to look at the jet.

Oh fuck, you’d know those two little lines of red anywhere.

“Jesus Christ, is that Iron Man?”

He flew down, unloading two rockets onto the demigod before pointing a variety of weapons at him. “Make your move, Reindeer Games.” You let the bubble disperse, the water slithering across the ground and back to where it came from as you and Cap walked towards him and Loki. The demigod’s armor disappeared, and he was left in black clothes.

Cap greeted Iron Man first, “Mister Stark.”

“Cap’n.”

You just stood there, staring at the two. Holy shit two legends stood in front of you. Softly, you mumbled, “Uh, yo dawg.” You smacked your face, _That’s too lame to say! Just say something cool!_

“Did she just say ‘yo dawg’?”

LITERALLY FUCK YOUR LIFE.


	9. Keep calm and carry on

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor more like 'oh god plz don't kill me'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I prefer to think of this meme as a way of life, lol.

The jet ride back started off comfortable enough. You were sitting across from Loki, staring at him with a perplexed face. You had completely tuned out the world, just focused on trying to break the walls around him. What did he want? Fury said that you had no quarrel with Asgard. So what could he want?

It wasn’t until Steve started talking that you started to fade back in. “...she’s Aqua.”

“Aqua? Her file said she didn’t have an alias.”

You sat up at that, realizing you had yet to take off your mask. You slipped the mask off by untying it in the back, tugging at it when it got caught in your hair. “Aquamarine. You know, color of the sea and stuff?” You stood up and walked towards them. Iron Man-- _Tony fucking Stark_ \--looked down at you.

“Oh my God, she really is a baby compared to everyone on that list.” You made a shocked face; baby? You were a baby? He seemed to sense your discomfort, because he pat you on the shoulder. “Lighten up, kiddo.”

You looked over at Steve, who was glaring at Loki. After a few moments of silence, you quietly asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t like it.”

Tony sarcastically said, “What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?”

“I don’t remember it being _that easy_.” You looked over at Loki, who was staring vacantly at the ground. “This guy packs a wallop.”

Again, he quipped sarcastically, “But still, you’re pretty spry, for an older fellow.” He glanced at Steve, small smirk on his lips. “What’s your thing, pilates?”

You had heard that Tony Stark had a killer sense of humor, but did it really feel like the proper time for that?

“What?”

“It’s like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple things, y’know, doing time as a… Capsicle.” 

Steve’s jaw clenched. You could almost smell the testosterone. “Fury didn’t tell me he was calling you in.”

“Yeah,” Stark glanced back at Cap after looking out the window, “there’s a lot of things Fury doesn’t tell ya.”

At that moment, it thundered. You jumped, looking out the window with wide eyes. “Where’s this coming from?” Natasha asked to no one.

Everyone looked at Loki when he jumped, a second thunder and lightning combo nearly hitting the jet. Steve looked back at him and asked, “What’s the matter? Scared of a little lightning?”

“I’m not overly fond of what follows.” The demigod looked up, as if trying to locate something. The jet shook violently, and everyone scrambled. Stark put his helmet back on and opened the hangar door.

“What are you doing, ya crazy!?”

Thor dropped onto the step. Holy fuck. Thor. Blond. Huge. Kind of scary. Thor.

Iron Man walked up to him, and the sound of one of his mini missiles preparing filled the jet. Thor had no time for that shit, apparently, ‘cause he just smacked his hammer against his chest and sent him flying backwards. Then, he yanked Loki from his restraints and twirled his hammer before flying off.

He looked _pissed_.

“Now there’s that guy,” Stark added dully. You just stared after them, then hurriedly tied your mask back on.

Natasha was trying to get her restraints off as she said, “Another Asgardian?”

“That guy a friendly?” Cap asked.

“Doesn’t matter.” You looked up at Stark. “If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract’s lost.” He started to walk to the open door.

“Stark! We need a plan of attack!” Steve tried to reason.

Tony looked back, “I have a plan. Attack.” With that, he flew off. Cap looked distraught as he flew off, before running over and grabbing a parachute.

You attempted to follow suit, but he pushed you back gently. “You stay here.”

“What!? Why!?”

“I’d sit this one out, Cap.” You looked over at Natasha. Was she trying to reason with him? 

“I don’t see how I can.” He tightened the strap around his waist. 

“These guys come from legends; they’re basically gods!” You were standing in between them awkwardly, just staring out the hatch door.

“There’s only one God ma’am, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that.” With that, he picked up his shield and approached the opening.

Aaaaaaa  
aaaaaaa  
aaaaaaa  
aaaaaaa  
aaaaaaa  
aaaaaaand there he goes.


	10. Assbutt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carry on my Aqua-muuuuuuuuhn.

Sitting around the table, listening to Fury and Loki going at each other, watching the other people in the room in silence… It was not your favorite thing.

When the feed ended, Banner was the first to speak, “He really grows on you, doesn’t he?”

“Loki’s gonna drag this out, so... “ Steve looked up at the towering blond brooding in the corner. “Thor. What’s his play?” You stood up, shaking your head. What was Loki’s plan? What could it have possibly been?

Thor rubbed his fingers together, “He has an army, called the Chitauri. They’re not of Asgard, or any world known.” He turned around, walking towards the table as Hill stepped up the stairs. “He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract.”

“An army.” Cap sounded absolutely unamused. “From outer space.” He looked around your group, and you set your head in your hands from where you stood.

You muttered under your breath, “Jesus God let this be a dream…”

Bruce chimed in with, “So he’s building another portal. That’s what he needs Erik Selvig for.”

Thor spoke. “Selvig?”

Banner responded. “He’s an astrophysicist.”

The demigod spoke again. “He’s a friend.”

“Loki has him under some kind of spell,” Natasha added, before glancing at you. “Along with one of ours.” You weren’t as close with Clint as you were her, but he was a friend. Your face fell at the thought of him being gone.

“I wanna know why Loki let us take him.” You glanced at Steve. “He’s not leading an army from here.”

“I don’t think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy’s brain is a bag full of cats… You could smell crazy on him.” You looked over at Banner, who was fiddling with his glasses.

“Have care how you speak.” Now you were looking at Thor. “Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother.”

You jumped in with, “He killed nearly one hundred people in two days!”

The blond bulk looked over at you, shrugging. “He’s adopted.” You deadpanned.

“I think it’s about the mechanics.” You sat back down, setting your face on the table and listening to the conversation. “Iridium. What did they need the iridium for?”

Tony Stark chose that moment to walk in. “It’s a stabilizing agent.” He spoke to Phil for a second before walking around. “Means the portal won’t collapse on itself as it did at S.H.I.E.L.D.” As he neared Thor, he said, “No hard feelings, Point Break, you’ve gotta mean swing.” He pat the demigod on the arm. “Also! It means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants.”

You stared at him. You were gonna be an author. Not a scientist. How the fuck did they know all this shit.

Stark started to pretend he was captain of a ship, and when no one was interested in his playtime, he pointed at someone across the room and said, “That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn’t notice, but we did.” Next, he covered his eye and said, “How does Fury even see these?”

Hill responded with a bland, “He turns.”

“That’s exhausting.” He started to mess around with the screens. “The rest of the raw materials Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he needs is a power source. Of high energy density. Something to,” he snapped for effect, “kickstart the cube.”

Hill wasn’t impressed. You could tell. “When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?”

“Last night.” You blinked at him wearily. “Packet. Selvig’s notes. The extraction theory papers. Am I the only one that did the reading?”

Steve said sternly, “Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?”

“He’d have to heat the cube to one hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier.”

“Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect.”

“Well, if he could do that he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet.”

“Finally, someone who speaks English.”

“What the legitimate fuck.” You looked across the table at Steve, staring at him with confused eyes. “I’m so tired.”

Stark and Banner spoke for a few moments before Fury came waltzing in. “Doctor Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him.”

Steve said, “Let’s start with that stick of his. It may be magical but it works and awful lot like a HYDRA weapon.”

“I don’t know about that… But it is powered by the cube.” Fury looked among your group. “And I’d like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys.”

Thor looked lost, “Monkeys? I do not understand--”

“I do!” You looked over at Steve.

“What?”

“I understand that reference.”

Oh yeah. He was from the 1940s. Forgot.

Tony and Bruce walked off, and you stared at them before looking at Fury. “I didn’t really believe the reports of Tony being that much of an assbutt, but he really is an assbutt, holy shit.”


	11. Calm yo tits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mentally screaming at you to 'calm yo tits' but you refuse to break the fourth wall.

Natasha had passed you in the hallway, telling you to go to your room. After three minutes of sitting there, you walked down towards the bridge. You saw everyone standing in the lab, looking tense and angry. Stepping in, you looked around.

“(F/Name).”

Everyone turned to you, “Hi?

At that moment, the room exploded. Literally. Just. Fucking. Boom.

You were thrown across, but muscle memory got the best of you and you drew your arms up and over your head, forming a water bubble around you. You had encased Stark and Steve with you, and you all fell to a lower level.

The water dispersed, and you were breathing heavily. Steve looked at Stark, “Put on the suit.” He helped you up, and you followed them out quickly.

*_*_*_*_*_*

You and Steve had dropped Tony off at the armory, and you passed by your room on the way to the engine. Surprisingly, it was in tact, save for a few things having been thrown around. You smiled. “Steve,” you whistled, and Sydney beeped to let you know where she was. You went over and picked her up. “Meet my buddy, Sydney.”

*_*_*_*_*_*

Getting to the engine had been the easy part. Now that you stood out on the exposed area, seeing the damage the whatever had done.

“Stark! Stark, I’m here!” Cap called out. You closed your eyes, pulling water from available sources and creating a safety net below the engine, in case either you or Cap would happen to fall.

You jumped on Sydney, scaling the floating water and swerving around it. “I got you in case you fall, Cap!” You smiled up at him despite the situation. He smiled back, albeit a bit stressed.

*_*_*_*_*_*

When Iron Man dropped chunks of the debris, you made holes large enough for it to fall through. Cap was fighting off baddies, and honestly, you were flipping the fuck out. Holy shit. You were doing dangerous things. You were probably going to die.

Que heavy breathing.

Trying to keep your sanity intact, you circled around your water net. But you couldn’t stop shaking. You forgot what was happening. Where were you? What were you doing? You weren’t a hero. You were a twenty-three-year-old with an interest in art and bands.

“(F/Name)!” Oh, Steve was calling you--

“HOLY FUCK, CAP!” You manipulated your water up, helping him as he was close to falling off (being held on by only a wire). You started to shake as he got the lever pulled and Tony jumped out of the turbine.

You fell to the ground, laughing slightly, ignoring the gunshots. You weren’t a hero. You weren’t made for this.

“(F/Name)...”

“I think… I’m not very good at this job.” You stood up, blankly walking back into the ship and to your room.

*_*_*_*_*_*

“Agent Coulson is down.”

You were in your room, sitting on your bed and playing music.

A knock came from your door.

You didn’t move.

Another knock.

Another.

Another.

And another.

“(F/Name)...” You looked up blankly, standing up and opening the door. You were numb. You weren’t cut out to be a hero. To deal with all this stuff. You were a girl from New York.

Steve stared back at you. Your lip trembled slightly as you looked up at him, eyes welling up with tears. “I don’t think this is what I was made for. I’m not made for this...:” You gestured to him. “I’m not made for standing up for people. I’m not made to save the world. I know we just suffered a huge loss but it made me realize that… that… I’m not a good hero.” Tears dribbled down your cheeks. “I’m pretty much useless. What can you do with water? Nothing. I’m useless.”

“(F/Name).”

“I’m not brave.”

“(F/Name).”

“I’m not strong.”

“(F/Name).”

“I’m just (F/Name), the girl with the water powers.”

Your headpiece went off. “I need everyone in the briefing room. Now.”

Sighing, you dried your eyes. You forced a smile. “Let’s go, Cap.”

*_*_*_*_*_*

Sitting in one of the chairs, dressed in sweats and a tank top, you stared at a cut on your arm. It looked relatively deep, maybe infected. To keep your mind off of everything that just happened, you twirled water around your hands mindlessly.

“These were in Phil Coulson’s jacket.” You looked up, seeing the Captain America trading cards in Fury’s hand. You bit your lip. Phil had treated you nicely, like he would treat a daughter. He had been your friend, even if you didn’t get to see him frequently. He threw them towards Steve, “Guess he never did get you to sign them.”

Steve picked up one of the blood spattered cards, examining it.

“We’re dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the cube, Banner… Thor… I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye… Maybe I had that comin’...” He started to circle the table. “Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract.” He stopped at your chair, looking amongst you three. “I never put all my chips on that number, though. Because I was playing something even riskier.” He glanced down at you before continuing to walk, “It was an idea. Stark and (L/Name) know this… Called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people. See if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to…

...fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died, still believing in that idea. In heroes. ”

You were beating yourself up in your mind. You weren’t a hero. _You weren’t a hero._ Shaking and mentally blubbering, you didn’t notice as Tony got up and stalked off.

“Well,” you threw a glance Fury’s way, “it’s an old fashion notion.”

You shook your head, standing up as well. You took to your room, not even throwing a glance back.

You didn’t think you could ever live up to your childhood dreams, and honestly… that’s what hurt the most.


	12. Win!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A long and tiresome battle awaits, but at least no one you liked died.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the entire fight scene cooked down to "they fight lol" Please don't hate me.

You were in your room, lying on the bed and trying to calm yourself by manipulating your water. Your fish were happily swimming in your water maze, and you continuously changed it for them. It almost made you forget the world was reallllly fucked up.

There was a knock on your door and before you could even say ‘fuck off,’ Steve was standing in the doorway looking at you. He was decked out in his suit, looking at you firmly. “Suit up.” You ground your teeth together, trying to find it in you to say no. He saw your inner dilemma. “We gotta go.”

“I’m not a hero, Steve. I told you. I’m bad at this.” You looked up at him firmly. “I’m not brave, and I’m certainly not strong.”

“Maybe not. But up until a few hours ago, you were full of heart and energy. What changed?”

You glanced away from his hard gaze, “I realized all that.”

“You’re not a fighter, (F/Name).” He motioned to your fish maze. “Look at this! You’re a protector. Your bubble? Your shields? That’s all to protect. And we’ll need that when we’re fighting Loki. Someone to protect us.”

You looked up at him, eyes watering slightly. So maybe he made a good point. Maybe you were better at protecting than fighting. Maybe you were useful after all.

“Okay, I’ll give you a seven point five out of ten on the pick-me-up speech.” You stood up and wiped your eyes. Then, you walked over to him and kissed his cheek. “That’s one of my favorite ways to express thanks, so count yourself as lucky.” Smiling, you turned around, manipulating your fish back into the fishtank.

“You coming?”

You grinned at him, casting him a glance over your shoulder. “Like you said, someone’s gotta come in and protect your asses. Might as well be me.”

“Good.”

With that, he walked off. You whistled, and Sydney beeped. Walking over to her, you picked her up. Then you walked to your closet and opened the doors up. In the back sat your suit. Unzipping your hoodie, you smiled. “Okay then. Aqua’s back in business!”

*_*_*_*_*_*

_”But, let's do a head count here. Your brother, the demigod; a super soldier, a living legend who kinda lives up to the legend; a man with breath-taking anger management issues; a kid getting off a puberty high with control over water; a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them.”_

*_*_*_*_*_*

When the plane was hit, your first instinct had been to wrap yourself in the water from your belt, using it to act as a cushion. Instead, you wrapped it around Clint and Natasha, smirking when they looked at you in surprise. You had just started to be thrown around (like when the bomb exploded) but Cap grabbed you and kept you close.

You looked up at him when it landed, smiling widely. “You are literally the sweetest, Cap.” The hangar door opened and you ran out, Sydney in hand. “We’ve gotta go!”

Your little group circled around, staring at the gaping portal in the sky. Out came this huge fucking fish thing. You stared at it, face twisting into disgust at its visage.

Apparently it was time to move, because Natasha grabbed you and pulled you to safety behind a taxi. You glanced around your spot. “Hey! Those people down there need help!” You turned, seeing Natasha--no, Black Widow--taking care of some of the Chitauri.

Cap looked between Hawkeye and Widow. “You got this?”

Clint smirks, “Cap’n.” His quiver moved, an arrow having been selected. “It would be my genuine pleasure.”

Cap looked up at you, then motioned for you to follow. You drew water beneath you, creating a tidal wave as you followed him on Syd.

“Aqua!” You looked at him as you followed, “You help any civilians you see get into cover!”

With a smile, you nodded, rolling off on your wave.

Despite the fact that doom was imminent, you were going to have a fucking blast.

*_*_*_*_*_*

After a few minutes, your attention was caught but Clint and Nat being absolutely pummeled. You covered with water just as Thor and Cap joined back up. You manipulated a wave to push the Chitauri soldiers away just long enough for everyone to get ready to fight them off.

You stood guard, deflecting shots at you from your perch while they took care of the soldiers.

“How do we do this?” You heard Widow ask.

“As a team,” Cap answered.

Thor said, “I have unfinished business with Loki.”

Hawkeye glared at him, “Yeah? Get in line.” You rolled your eyes.

Cap decided to play leader and said, “Save it. Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him these things could run wild. We got Stark up top, he's gonna need us…” You all looked at the sound of a motor, seeing Bruce riding up.

Stepping off the bike awkwardly, he motioned around your group and said, “So, this all seems horrible.”

“I’ve seen worse.” You glanced at Widow, then remembered that she had to basically take the Hulk on by herself for a while.

Banner looked down, “Sorry…”

“No, we could use a little worse.”

“Stark,” you glanced at Cap, “we got him.”

Tony’s voice came through your headset, “Banner?”

“Yeah.”

“Then tell him to suit up. I’m bringing the party to you!” He rounded a building at that moment, and the giant fish creature plowed into it. He got closer to the ground, and fishy (as you decided to call it) rammed through the ground.

“Oh.” You made a face of distaste. “This will be fun.”

“I don’t see how that’s a party…” At least Nat got you.

Banner started to walk towards the fishy, and Cap called out, “Doctor Banner, now might be a good time for you to get angry.”

“That’s my secret, Cap.” Banner glanced back, “I’m always angry.” Almost instantaneously, he transformed into the Hulk. He punched fishy in the face, causing him to nearly flip onto you.

“Holy shit.”

“Hold on!” Iron Man fired a shot at an exposed spot, moving fishy from hitting you to landing somewhere else. That pissed the Chitauri soldiers off, because they all screamed.

Hulk screamed back.

Hawkeye drew an arrow.

Thor readied his hammer.

Black Widow reloaded her gun.

Captain America stood at the ready.

You manipulated water to surround you in little orbs.

Iron Man lowered himself.

Had you been paying attention, you would’ve noticed the perfect little circle you all made. But you weren’t. You were too busy focusing on the fact that two more fishys had just come from the portal. “Guys…”

“Cap, call it.”

“Alright, listen up. ‘Til we can close that portal our priority's containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you’ve got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out you turn it back or you turn it to ash.”

“Give me a lift?” Clint asked.

“Right. Better clench up, Legolas.” With that, Iron Man and Hawkeye took to the skies.

“Thor, you gotta try and bottleneck that portal. Slow ‘em down. You got the lightning. Light the bastards up.” Thor took off. Cap looked at Natasha. “You and me, we stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here. (F/Name), you keep an eye out for stragglers on the ground. Try to get civilians to safety if you see them.” You nodded. “And Hulk…” The big green guy looked at Cap. “Smash.” You didn’t think the Hulk smiled, but he did before jumping off.

*_*_*_*_*_*

“Captain, the bank on 42nd past Madison, they’ve got a lot of civilians there.”

“I’m on it.” You nodded, playing lookout for more civilians until Cap said, “Aqua! On me!”

You grinned, “On it, Cap.” You dropped to the ground when you saw him running, picking your board up and using it as cover. Sydney beeped. When you got there, you smirked at him. The only possible way in was through a window. Using your powers, you cracked the window open, the manipulated the water into tendrils and threw Cap through it.

You threw Syd down and rode the wave into the building, smacking two Chitauri soldiers off their feet with a tendril of water. “Bomb!” You created a shield of water around the civilians, forgetting about protecting yourself as the bomb went off. It threw you into the shield, which felt as hard as concrete, and you dropped to the ground.

The next thing you knew, Cap was smacking you back into liveliness. You stared up at him; he had somehow lost his mask in the scuffle. Smiling and decoherent, you said, “Caaaaaap, they’re gonna know who you arrrre.”

“Somehow, that’s okay with me. Now, we need to get you up.” You realized that there were people fleeing the building with the help of response workers, and you smiled at a pair of children that were there. A little girl looked at you with awe.

*_*_*_*_*_*

And then there was a missile in the fucking portal and you were freaking out because Tony was dead. Then the portal closed and Tony was lying on the ground, probably still dead.

Hulk screamed, and Tony woke up with an ‘AGUH!’ He searched your faces worriedly. “What the hell!?” He looked at Cap, and you were laughing softly. “What just happened?? Please tell me nobody kissed me!”

Cap looked lost for words, but you weren’t, “We fucking did it, Tony! We won!” You jumped around, “We woooon! We wooooooooooon!”

Tony started to ramble.

“We’re not finished yet,” Thor said, looking at Stark Tower.

“And then Shawarma after.”

*_*_*_*_*_*

When Loki came to, you were all standing before him, looking thoroughly pissed off.


	13. Dat Ass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You needed a ride, but forgot to ask. Apparently, Steve noticed.

After Thor and Loki left, you were apparently the only Avenger without a _vehicular_ mode of transportation since you were left standing there awkwardly. You had arrived on foot, a bagel from Panera in your hands. It had been a couple weeks since the war, and you had since had your stuff moved out of the helicarrier and to an apartment of your own. You were being paid as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, apparently. You just assumed that they were paying you to keep your mouth shut.

You still had yet to acquire a car with that money. Never had a reason to learn before.

Standing there, you looked up, taking another bite from your bagel. You turned around when you heard the sound of an approaching bike, raising a brow curiously at Steve. He took the key from the bike and got off. “You needed a ride and you didn’t ask?” You shrugged, turning back around to look up at the sky.

He walked up beside you, looking at you from the corner of his eyes. You glanced at him, before saying calmly, “You wanna go out to eat or something?”

Steve looked at you, apparently surprised. “What?”

You spun around, arms outstretched. “I mean, don’t you think it’s kinda crazy? We just saved the world together, and I don’t even know your favorite color!” You giggled slightly, “I mean, I think that’s crazy. And besides, what’s the harm in wanting to learn more about my favorite superhero?” You offered him the widest of smiles.

He smiled, “Sure, let’s go out to eat.” He motioned for you to follow him as he walked, and then he got on his bike. You followed suit, wrapping your arms around his waist as he started it up and drove out.

*_*_*_*_*_*

You two had just driven, having stopped at a diner as you did and gotten some lunch. You found that it was easy to be calm around Steve. To be relaxed. He had no bad intentions, no hidden motives. He just wanted to protect the country he loved and those he cared about. That was what you’d learned from your hour-long conversation at the diner.

Suddenly, you gripped his waist tightly. “HOLY FUCK!” you screeched. He slammed on the brakes (thankfully at a stoplight) before looking at you with wide, worried eyes.

“What!?”

You smacked your forehead, “I haven’t texted Mommy or Daddy since we saved the world!” You really should’ve paid them a visit, seen if they were okay…

“Do you… want to go see them?”

You blinked, then smiled up at him. “Would you really do that for me? Drive me there to see them?” He nodded, and you could feel the gentle smile on his face. “Okay, so from here you’ll need to turn left…”

*_*_*_*_*_*

Fifteen minutes later, you were standing at the apartment of your parents. Their complex had suffered minimal damage, and was labeled by authorities as safe. So, with a hesitant knock, you waited.

The door opened, and your mother stood before you with a panic-stricken face. She took you into her arms, hugging you close and rubbing your head. “You’re alright,” she murmured. “Oh, baby, you’re alright.”

You smiled at her as she pulled away, and she smiled back. “I’m alright, Mom.” Stepping out of her embrace, you motioned to Steve. “Mom, this is a friend of mine. He’s--”

“Oh my God.” Her eyes started to sparkle oddly, and you stared at her in confusion. “I know who that is, honey! That’s Steve Rogers, Captain America!” You blinked once before sighing. Of course she would get it in two seconds, whereas it took you a literal wake-up call. She stepped aside, and you stepped into your old home. “Oh my goodness, honey, he saved your life during the fight with the Chitauri!”

“No ma’am, it was the other way around. (F/Name) saved my life quite a few times.” You glanced up at him, smirking slightly at his gentlemanly act. He was the cutest little thing sometimes. As you walked into your parents’ home, you saw artifacts from your childhood. Old drawings, pictures, toys, you name it. Apparently your parents had been going through storage. 

“Well, I was with Steve when I remembered I haven’t checked in with you guys since the fight, so he was kind enough to bring me over here.” You grinned at you father, who looked at you from his spot on the loveseat. “Hey, Daddy.”

“Hi honey. I saw you kick some _major fucking Chitauri ass!_ ” He stood up, and you two high-fived. You and your father were basically best friends. “That was so fucking cool. We were escorted to a shelter, but they had a TV and we gotta watch and your mom was freaking the fuck out but I knew that our little girl was strong as fuck so I told her to cool her shit.” You snickered, sending a glance to your mother (who looked mortified for your father’s language) and Steve (who was looking at your father like every question in the world was answered).

After a few moments of conversing with your father, you looked between them. “We’ve got to get going, though, guys. I don’t want to keep Steve here all day, y’know?”

He interjected with, “It’s really not a problem.”

You shrugged, “Maybe not to you.” Your parents smiled and nodded in understanding, letting you and him leave. You sighed peacefully as you walked down the stairs of the building, Steve in front of you. Glancing down, you nearly whistled at him in his khakis. “Dat _ass_ ,” you mumbled softly.

He turned around, staring at you curiously, “Did you say something?”

“Oh, nothing, Steve. Nothing at all.”


	14. Like a boss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That poor pizza girl...

Three months after the war, you and Steve had only grown closer. Occasionally, one of you (or both of you) would be called to missions, but you were typically found hanging out with one another. The tabloid had already found him, and pictures of you and him were frequently on the front of magazines.

_’Steve Rogers Is Once Again With The Mysterious Woman!’  
‘Who is SHE?’  
‘Could Captain America Be Settling Down?’_

Honestly, it almost made you laugh. They consistently blurred out your face, but everyone in your shared apartment complex knew who you were. You and Steve were practically glued to the hip when you both were home.

Shaking your head, you called out, “Steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeve! Don’t start up _The Breakfast Club_ without meeeeeeeeeee!” You had offered to order pizza while he went to the bathroom, but he finished first, so you were left standing in the kitchen with your phone pressed to your ear.

“I’m not going to, calm down.” You could hear a laugh in his voice. You knew he found your childish antics relatively endearing (in small doses), and you found his ‘mother-hen’ nature to be sweet (in small doses).

After you ordered the pizza, you skipped over to the couch, plopping down beside him. With a grand sweep of your arms, you said, “Let the movie commence, Steven!” He chuckled at your grandiose gestures, leaning back and hitting ‘play’ on your remote. You two sat in a comfortable silence as the movie started.

Twenty minutes in--a silence still over you two--your doorbell went off. Steve paused the movie, sending a glance your way as you stood up. You walked over to the door languidly, trying to regain feeling in your legs since you had been sitting on them. Opening the door, you blinked slowly at the sight before you.

Two men outfitted in all black held the pizza girl at gunpoint, glaring at you through their ski masks. “Steve!” you called out. One of the men moved their gun to be pointed at your gut, making it very clear that if you said anything about the situation you’d be killed. You glanced behind you, seeing the gallon of water on the counter (your kitchen was next to the front door). If you could distract them long enough, you could get the water out and have a shield between the pizza girl and the men.

“Yeah?”

“Can you grab my purse? It’s in behind the couch.” Which was a lie. It was on the counter, next to the jug of water, and he knew that. He had seen you put it there.

He didn’t hesitate to respond, “Yeah, I’ll grab it.” You could hear the almost silent question to his voice. He was worried.

Under your breath, you said, “What do you want?”

One of the men responded with a hasty, “Captain America.”

“Oh my God, this again.” You didn’t even hesitate, lifting your hands quickly and causing the water to explode from the gallon. You dropped to the ground when a shot went off, lifting a hand and protecting the pizza girl with a water shield. “Drop down!” The girl did as you said, collapsing into a ball on the ground as you manipulated the water to smack the guns from their hands.

Steve stepped out from behind the wall, staring and standing as you wrapped the water around the men. He watched you, apparently impressed as you picked your phone off of the counter. You clicked a number, “Fury. Two more at my apartment… Yes, they wanted him again. This is getting really old, man. They attacked the freakin’ pizza girl… I know you have agents watchin’ him around the clock, send a couple of them down.”

You clicked off your call, smiling and offering your hand to the pizza girl. She accepted it, standing up on shaking legs and smiling weakly back at you. “Thank you so much!” she squealed. “You’re secret's safe with me, I promise. Oh my God, to think that you’re Aquamarine!” You smiled widely, putting a finger over your lips in a ‘hush’ motion.

“Anyways, how much do I owe you?”

“For what?”

“For the pizza?”

“Oh. Uh, seventeen ninety-five.” You stepped into the kitchen, nabbing your purse and grabbing a twenty out.

“Keep the change, sweetheart.” She handed you the pizza box (which had been dropped on the ground) as you handed her the money.

“Oh, I will , Aqua! Thanks so much!”

Shutting the door as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents approached the men and the girl, you stepped inside your apartment and set the pizza on the counter. Then, you did a little dance of excitement. “I handled that like a boss!”

“I’m assuming that means you handled it well?” Steve asked, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. You nodded excitedly, bouncing on your toes. He stepped forward, opening the pizza box and taking a semi-decent slice out. “Then yes, you did handle that ‘like a boss.’” He motioned for you to follow him, and you did after nabbing a slice of pizza. “C’mon, I want to finish watching that movie. It seems really good.”

“ _The Breakfast Club_ is a classic, Mister Rogers!” you teased.


	15. This is why we CAN have nice things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fanmail leads to interesting conversations...

You had been in Steve’s apartment, body laid awkwardly over his couch, when he started answering fanmail. Like, _legit_ fanmail, from children and interested ladies. He was sitting at his table and writing away quietly, while you just sat there and listened to his record player. You lolled around lazily as you hummed to the records, enjoying the comfortableness you shared with him.

“How goes the fanmail, buddy?” you asked after what felt like forever. He stopped scratching his pencil against paper, looking over his shoulder at you. He gripped the back of his chair, pencil behind his ear. You moved yourself on his couch, legs over the back and head touching the floor to look at him. You kicked your feet languidly, “That good, huh?”

“It’s been interesting. The last ten letters have been from kids, and every other one seems to be a little girl asking if I can get mail to you.” You grinned widely at that; you were glad some girls were looking up to you. You rolled your legs forward, rolling off the couch and into a ball. Then, you stood up and dusted your leggings off.

You approached him, and extended your hand when you reached him. “Lemme see the letters from the girls.” He handed you one, which you read over carefully. Attached to the nearly sickening sweet letter was a drawing of you in your suit. You smiled widely, “Oh my God this little girl is adorable.” You sat down across from him, picking one of his pencils up and nabbing a sheet of paper from him.

Quickly, you had a response written to the little girl, telling her that Captain America had gotten her letter to you and that you loved her drawing. You answered a couple of her questions, just to make the letter a little longer. Then, you handed the paper and the letter back to Steve. “You answered it?”

“Hell yeah I did, Cap. Gimme all the letters that asked to be sent to me.” You put effort into each letter he handed you, answering questions and telling little girls to shoot for the stars. Smiling, you set you pile of answers down and looked at Steve. “Oh man, fanmail is best mail. Now I see why you answer it.” You wiggled around in delight, “Those little girls are so cute! One said she and her mom cosplayed, and they were going as Aqua and Black Widow. That’s sooooo cute!”

He smiled at your excited state, leaning back in his chair and placing his pencil behind his ear. “So you’re happy I told you about the letters.” He wrapped an arm behind the chair, relaxed in your presence.

“Hell yeah!” You fist pumped. “Don’t doubt it, like, _ever._ I love the fact that I’m a role model to these little girls. A lot of kids these days--girls in particular--are forced to grow up with bad role models, both at home and in the world. I mean, sure I might have a foul mouth, but I’m out protecting this place.” With a content sigh, you leaned back in your chair. “It really makes a person happy, y’know?”

“I know exactly how you feel.” You moved your eyes from the ceiling to Steve. He seemed languidly serious, staring at you with hooded eyes. “I’ve been getting letters from kids since word got out that I was unfroze. A lot of them tell me they learn about me in history, and that my story inspired them.”

You jumped, “Hell yeah it’s inspiring! You were just, like…” You faded off. “How do I put this without hurting your feelings?”

“Just say it, (F/Name).”

“You were just a little sprout!” you rushed out. “Like, you were so small! And then you became the you you are today! You gave up everything for this country, and now you’re back!” You shook your arm ecstatically, “You are freaking great!”

He smiled bashfully, “Well.... thanks.”

“For telling the truth? Man, Cap, I don’t lie to people I like.” You grinned at him, making finger pistols. “It’s part of my charm.”

At this, he laughed with a full smile. “That it?”

“Hell. The fuck. Yeah.” You jumped up, bouncing around as you grabbed his hands and spun him around with you. “I’d never lie to you, Steve! We’re b-f-fs!” You danced around, catching his confused face. “What?”

“What’re b-f-fs?”

“Ah! Best friends forever!”

“We’re… friends?”

“I don’t know what else you’d call eating pizza, watching movies, hanging out 24/7, answering fanmail, and fighting crime together other than friendship.” He smiled at your seemingly sarcastic yet very true answer. “But we’re best friends compared to _regular_ friends. At least on my side we are.”

He smiled bashfully, “And why’s that?”

“Because I’d _die_ for you, Steve.” You had said it teasingly, but there was a certain seriousness behind your voice. He seemed to be in awe of the statement. “I know, I know. Captain America does the dying for people.”

“I was just going to say I’d do the same for you.”

You smiled up at him, jumping and wrapping your arms around him in a tight hug. “YES! BEST FRIENDS WITH CAPTAIN AMERICA. HELL THE FUCK YEAH!”


	16. You gonna get raped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's comment leads to a very insecure you.

Tony had invited you and Steve to one of his gratuitous parties. It honestly wasn’t on your list of ‘hey I wanna do this’ but he had threatened to force you into an ugly dress and heels. So, you were in your apartment, cleaning up for a party you didn’t want to go to. You wore a simple blue dress and black flats, hair pulled back with a black ribbon. You didn’t want Tony to think you wanted to be there, so you only put on eyeliner and lipstick. You looked good, but not _too_ good.

You nearly stabbed your ear with an earring when a knock came from your front door. Steve, you guessed. Slipping the earring through your ear, you called out, “Be there in a sec!” You nabbed your clutch and a jacket you had stolen from him, sliding your hand through the arms as you opened the door.

Your guess had been correct, and you smirked up at Steve. He wore a white dress shirt and black slacks, looking as dashing as ever. He smiled down at you, brows lifting in mild curiosity. “What’re you smirking at?”

“Ah, I had a little bet with myself. It was either you behind the door or someone else. I bet you, and I was right.” You slid your other hand through the arm, “We’re riding your bike to the tower, right?”

“Yeah…” He looked over you, your outfit now completed with his black leather jacket. “Hey! I’ve been looking for that.” You glanced down at the jacket, then sheepishly smiled.

“You can have it back, if you want?” He made a sound akin to disbelief. “Hey! You left it here, and I just… kinda… took it. I stole it. Okay, I was in the wrong but if you want it back you can.” You started to take it off.

“You can wear it, but just for tonight, okay? That’s my bike jacket.” You snorted at his surprisingly cute answer, but pat his shoulder. “You ready to go?” You nodded, looping your arm through his as he escorted you to his bike. You hopped on the back, wrapping your arms around his waist.

And off you went.

*_*_*_*_*_*

Arriving at Tony’s party, you saw what looked to be all the higher ups of S.H.I.E.L.D. You blinked, then realized that, with your ‘superhero’ status, you were a higher up. That immediately took a weight off your shoulders that you didn’t know you had. Maybe you had been subconsciously worrying that someone would ask who you were in relation to the Avengers, and that they’d then connect two and two?

....nah, you were just worried that you’d get drunk off your fucking ass.

The elevator ride up was full of you and Steve talking casually about what to expect. You had skipped the last two parties (one that celebrated the saving of the world and the other celebrated the finishing of Avengers tower), but Tony had, again, threatened you.

Steve, on the other hand, had been to both, and was filling you in on what had happened in the past. Hilarity typically, _mostly_ , ensued with Tony and Bruce getting hammered off their fucking asses. You never pegged Bruce as a drinker, but apparently it suppressed the Hulk, at least a little bit.

The elevator dinged to alert you that you had arrived at the private ‘this-is-where-Tony-Stark-lives’ section of the Avengers tower. As the sliding doors opened, a computerized voice you had become familiar with said, “Sir, Miss (L/Name) and Mister Rogers have arrived.”

Tony turned around, a tall glass of wine in his hand and that ridiculously cock smile on his face. “If it isn’t Aqua and Cap, showing up together!” He swaggered over to you as you stepped out of the elevator. “You two have been _all over_ the tabloids lately.”

You rolled your eyes, “Well, he and ‘Miss Mysterious’ have.” Tony chuckled at your response. “But yeah, we’re here. Together.” You smiled up at him, extending your hand, “I know that you were at my apartment just last week threatening me with ugly clothes, but nice to see you again, Tony.”

“Same to you, (F/Name),” he said, shaking your hand. When he released you from the handshake, he gestured out to the party. “Welcome to a Stark party! Go, drink! Enjoy life! Maybe get lucky!”

Your brows furrowed at the last part of his statement. “ _Maybe_ get lucky? Are you doubting my abilities to get laid?”

Tony smirked devilishly, “I wouldn’t say that so loud; someone might slip something in your drink and then, well…”

Steve asked sternly, “What, Tony?”

“Well then you gonna get raped, (F/Name).” Steve stepped forward, protectively. Tony raised his hands in defense, still holding onto his wine glass. “Oooooor maybe not with guard Cap around.”

“Like I’d let her get raped. That’s not even something to joke about.” You could feel anger radiating off of Steve. Setting your hand on his shoulder to get his attention, he glanced down at you.

“Just let it go, Steve. It’s a party, let’s not ruin it as soon as we get here.” The clenching in his jaw let up, and he glanced angrily at Tony before leading you to the others there.

*_*_*_*_*_*

You were fucking smashed. Like, seriously, fucking hammered. Tony’s jab at you spun in your head. ‘Maybe get lucky?’ Were you not, like, hot? Cute? Nice?

“Steeeeeve.” He was nursing a glass of champagne, but looked over at you from his spot at the bar. “Steeeeeeeeveeeeee.”

“Yes?”

“Am I not hot?” You looked over at him. He nearly spit out his drink.

“What?”

“Am I unattractive? Tony’s comment really has me in a tizzy.” You crossed your arms, glaring at the beer in front of you. “ _Maybe_ get lucky? I could more than maybe get lucky! I have at least an eighty percent chance of getting lucky!” Pouting, you looked at him. “Does he mean I’m unattractive?”

Sighing, he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “You’re… you’re not unattractive, (F/Name).”

“Am I not nice enough?”

“You’re plenty nice.”

“Then why does Tony doubt that I can get lucky!!!!” you whined.

Steve looked at you, then at the S.H.E.I.L.D. agents that were looking at you two. A couple were smiling and talking to each other. It clicked in his head suddenly; they thought you two were a couple. They thought that you two were in a relationship.

That’s why Tony had doubts.

“Because…” He couldn’t just come out and say ‘he doubts you can have sex because everyone thinks we’re a couple’ but he didn’t want to just say ‘because Tony likes seeing you freak out.’ “Because…”

“Never mind,” your voice was deteriorating into slurs, “just… how long have we been here?”

“For at least four hours.”

“Take me home so I can sleep off this attack at my libido, please.” You fell onto him, arms wrapped around his shoulders. “C’mon, bff, let’s gooooooo.”

He sighed, helping you up and offering goodbyes to those he passed on his way to the elevator. When he got into the lift, he leaned you against the railing, clicking the button for the lobby. You hiccupped, crossing your arms.

“Steeeeeeveeeeee.”

“What?”

“You’d bang me, right?”

He looked at you with wide eyes. “WHAT!?”

“You. Would. Bang. Me?” Then, you laughed. “WAIT! How could I possibly bang Captain America? Pfft, that’s dumb. Captain America is sweet and tender and protective and wonderful. Aquamarine is cute and… cute.” You laughed even louder, nearing hysteric wails. “Oh man, Tony has _FUCKED_ my mind if I’m trying to metaphorically sleep with you, Steve.”

Steve just looked at you. Had he seriously just contemplated sleeping with you? Nope, not at all. He was not going to sleep with an intoxicated you.

 

...does that mean he’d like to sleep with a sober you?

AGH STEVE JUST GET HER HOME.


	17. Oh God why

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Steve move.

Nearly a year after the war, Fury had moved you and Steve to DC. He said something about it being easier to send you on missions and to have you appear at press conferences. You thought he really wanted Steve there to unveil the Captain America museum-thing to him. You had no fucking clue as to why he’d want you there.

But hey. You’d go wherever Fury needed you as long as you had Steve with you. Was that thirsty? It sounded thirsty. Were you thirsty for Steve? Maybe. Most likely. Probably.

Picking up yet another moving box, you carried it up and towards your new apartment. Steve had requested that no one at S.H.I.E.L.D. aid you two in your moving expedition, despite how much you whined about the physical labor. So you got stuck moving everything, since he was called out for a mission about two hours ago. It would probably be a good ten hours before he got back.

Once you were in your apartment, you dropped the box. You were getting down to the heavy-lifting, where Steve was supposed to help. You had been put in charge of the boxes, he had been put in charge of all the heavy stuff. Like, you _could_ pick it up if you absolutely had to, but that would require your water abilities aaaaaaand you can’t really use those in public. Maybe, you mused, you could do it in the dead of night.

You walked back down the stairs, seeing a group of kids looking at your stuff. You blinked, realizing that your suit was currently being unpacked from the ‘do not open in public’ box. In retrospect, you probably shouldn’t have written ‘do not open in public’ on the side of it. You screamed, “WHAT IN THE NAME OF GOD DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING.” The kids, two boys and a young girl, jumped and looked at you.

The tallest one, a rough looking boy with messy black hair, pushed the smallest, blond boy. “See?” he said. “She don’t look anythin’ like Aquamarine.” You rolled your eyes. “She obviously just wants to dress up like her for Halloween, man.”

The blond boy looked at you, seemingly examining you. “I don’t know, she _kinda_ looks like Aqua. I mean, she _could_ be Aqua. Why else would she have ‘do not open in public’ written on the side of the box if she’s not Aqua?”

The girl, who had curly dark hair, said, “Joshua, you worry too much. She’s Aqua! Look at her eyes! They’re the same pretty (E/Color) as Aqua!” She squealed, bouncing up and down. “It’s Aquaaaaaamarine!”

You shook your head, “Sorry kids, but your friend had it right. I just wanna be Aqua for a Halloween party.” The blond boy and curly-haired girl frowned, but the dark-haired boy smiled triumphantly. Looking down at the group, you said, “I’m (F/Name) (L/Name), and I just moved here. Who are you?”

The girl was the first to speak, “I’m Lissa! Nice to meet you, Miss (F/Name)!” You smiled widely at her, shaking her hand when she extended it towards you. She looked at your hand in amazement, “Wow! Your hands really are soft!”

You grinned, “Thanks, Lissa.”

The blond boy spoke next, “I’m Joshua. I’m the oldest of us three, don’t let Jimmy tell you otherwise.” He leaned forward and whispered, “Jimmy has a bad habit of lying.”

Jimmy yelled, “Do not, booger brian!” You laughed at how the two boys fought with each other. It was quite cute. They fought for a few moments, but Lissa perked up when someone called her name. She grabbed Joshua’s hand, and he looked at her with a glare.

“What!?”

“I think I heard Mama call us.” The blond boy paled considerably at the mention of his mother.

“Crud! Jimmy and I were supposed to be cleaning!” He looked up at you, then said, “We’ll see you later, Miss (F/Name)!” You smiled at him, waving as he and the others ran off. When you turned back around, you jumped when you saw Steve picking up a mirror.

“OH GOD WHY.” You held a hand over your heart, breathing heavily. Steve turned around and looked at you, an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

“Those kids seemed to have liked you.”

“No, I mean, yes, but, like, I thought you were gone on a mission, man!” You looked at him with wide eyes, “God, way to flip me the fuck out.” He grinned slightly.

“Fury just wanted to give me these,” he pulled his wallet out, then revealed two S.H.I.E.L.D. identification cards. You took the one with your name written on it, looking starry eyed. Then you shook your head, getting back on subject in your mind.

“So… wanna help me move the rest of the stuff into my apartment?”


	18. Come at me bro

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Steve go on a run.

Steve had been waking you up at the butt crack of dawn every morning for the last week. Why? Because he insisted that your cardio workout wasn’t up to par with his. In which you responded with a salty ‘excuse the fuck you Cap but not everyone has super muscles.’

It had been nearly a year since you moved into the new apartments, and so far it has been great. Except for the cardio. The cardio sucked, because Steve didn’t jog, he _ran._ Which, maybe was the point of cardio, but fuck no were you going to run every morning. A brisk jog? Maybe. But running? Fuck no.

So imagine your surprise when, as you were trying your damndest to keep up with Steve without dying, you bumped into another man running at the ass crack of morning. The blond you followed called out as he passed the man, “On your left!” The man nodded as he ran by, and you looked at him with apologetic eyes as you ran past.

“Sorry if he bumped into you!” you called out. Then, you yelled at your companion, “Dude, would you slow the hell down!?” You put more power into your legs, struggling to keep up with him. He slowed down just enough to let you catch up, then sprinted off. “JESUS CHRIST.” You sprinted off again, following him on his trail.

*_*_*_*_*_*

You ran into the guy again in front of a monument. Steve called out, “On your left!”

The man responded with a salty, “Uh-huh! On my left!” When he saw you breathing heavily behind him, he said, “He didn’t bump into me.”

You smiled, feeling sweat drip down your face. “Okay, good. SLOW THE HELL DOWN, MAN!” you screamed out. Steve just kept on running. Finally, you looked at the man jogging beside you and said, “(F/Name) (L/Name).”

He raised a brow at you, but responded with, “Sam Wilson.” You nodded, breathing in loudly. “And that is…?”

“Who the hell do you think could run that fast without dying?” He looked at you for a second before letting out a soft ‘oh.’ “Yeah, see my dilemma?” You exhaled once before you said, “Okay, gotta go catch up with the Flash up there!” You took off again, arms flailing at your sides as you yelled, “SLOW DOWN FOR LIKE THREE SECONDS.”

*_*_*_*_*_*

The third time you bumped into him, you were lying face down in the grass. You had an empty water bottle in front of you and you looked like you were almost dead. Your face was pale and you just looked gross.

Sam sat against a tree, breathing heavily as he tried to catch his breath. You then heard a peppy, “Need a medic?” You groaned at Steve’s gross enthusiasm for movement.

Sam responded with, “I need a new set of lungs…” He looked up at Steve, a look of awe on his face, “Dude, you just ran, like, thirteen miles in thirty minutes.”

“Guess I got a little held back.” You could feel his playful grin pointed in your direction.

You groaned again, rolling over, “Come at me bro.”

“Really?” Sam’s voice dropped into a sarcastic range, “You should be ashamed of yourself. Should take another lap.” He motioned for him to run, then looked away. He looked back at Steve after a second and said, “Did you just take it? I assume you just took it.”

At this point, your phone vibrated. It was Nat.

_How was the run?_

**Satan wouldn’t wish this kind of punishment upon anyone.**

_Why?_

**I think if I get dehydrated, something in my body fucks up. Like? I’ve read about normal dehydration and this doesn’t feel like what normal dehydration should feel like.**

_Might have something to do with your water powers._

**No really.**

_Be there in two. Wrap the run up and try to manipulate all the gross sweat you accumulated off of your body._

**ugh fine**

You looked up as a car pulled up, yelling when Nat rolled the window down, “I thought you said two minutes!”

She grinned at you, “I meant two seconds.”

You groaned, looking at Sam. Extending your hand, you said, “Uh, promise not to tell anyone I’m off to do some cool dangerous stuff?” He nodded. You smiled. “Sweet! I’m Aquamarine.”


	19. Finish Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You get cool ice powers. Black Widow makes comments. Captain America continues to not ask you out.

You were pressed in between Captain America and Black Widow, mask and hood pulled off so you could see the screen clearly. The head commander of the unit was speaking to you, Nat, and Steve, but you were focusing on the fact that pirates had over taken a nuclear launch ship. Like? Really? Pirates? What the fuck.

You came back to it when Cap spoke, “Aqua, you’re with me. We’re sweeping the deck.”

You gave him two thumbs up, smiling cheekily, “Sweet! How’re we getting down, Cap’n?” He motioned to the door, then to you. “Oh. Jumping. Again... Fun.”

As everyone checked to make sure channel seven was secure, Nat asked Steve, “So, did you do anything fun Saturday night?” She glanced at you and smiled, making sure you knew that the question was directed towards you as well.

“Well,” Steve was the first to speak, sounding playful as he said, “all the guys from my barbershop quartet are _dead_ , so no, not really.”

You shrugged, “I had someone drop pizza off and I ate my feelings out.”

Natasha hissed through her teeth, sounding upset for your expense. “Oh… Did the date with what’s-his-face from logistics not go well?” You shook your head as you tied on your mask.

Steve looked confused and asked, “What date?” You heard someone say the drop was ready, and you smacked the button to open the door with one hand, raising your hood with the other. Without looking back (or responding… or grabbing a chute), you grabbed Sydney from her perch and ran out of the drop with a ‘see you on the flip side, guys!’

Vaguely, as you catapulted down to the water, you realized that you probably should’ve told him about your date. He was your best friend, after all.

*_*_*_*_*_*

Black Widow finally reappeared, the seductress over top of the friend, and she looked at her fellow superhero. He was putting on his mask, but she could still see the confusion in his face. “Did she really not tell you? Ugh, Steve, you’re too old for this. She’d say yes if you’d ask.”

“That’s why I don’t ask.”

Her lips twisted into a smile, “Too shy or too scared?”

He shot back with, “Too busy!” With that, he ran off of the jet, shield strapped to his back.

Black Widow listened with a knowing eye roll as people commented on the two superheroes that ran off of a jet without parachutes. Mentally, she made a note to kick your ass later. Steve she could understand, but you were _her_ almost-child. She wanted you safe, even if that means making you feel stupid by wearing a parachute.

*_*_*_*_*_*

Running. Always with the running. You had a fucking surfboard and water powers and you were in the middle of the ocean! What the fuck. You could totally just ride on the waves. **”But that’s too obvious!”** they said.

Fuck ‘em, you were just supposed to sweep the deck.

Cap had cleared the lower part of the deck as you cleared the upper part. With the help of everyone at S.H.I.E.L.D., you had found a way to knock people out with water tendrils. Turns out you can freeze water! At least, that’s what the scientists at S.H.I.E.L.D. said.

Time to test it out.

Whipping up a water tendril, you lifted it above a guy and forced your body to cool down. When it got to a low enough temperature, the water immediately formed into ice and dropped on the guy’s head. Looking at your hands, then at the broken ice on the ground, then at the knocked out guy, you screamed in your mind, “I WILL FIGHT. AND I. WILL. WIN!” Fortunately enough for you, no one had showed up yet.

So you took off running, hoping to find someone new to hit upside the head with your moving ice.

*_*_*_*_*_*

You and Cap met up on the far side of the deck. The reinforcements were showing up, dropping down with chutes. You nodded to them, then looked at your Captain for orders. “Go with Widow. Secure the engine room.”

You smiled, “Aye, aye, Cap’n!” With that, you took off after Black Widow.

The commander of the reinforcements scoffed, “It really does show that she’s the baby of the Avengers.”

Captain America rolled his eyes; he heard those kinds of comments all the time. How (F/Name) was so young compared to everyone else this! And how cute Aquamarine was that! He knew that. He didn’t need to hear it all the time.

*_*_*_*_*_*

To be fair, though, Widow needed no help with the engine room. She just smiled at you before dropping down and clearing the room. You stood there, completely in awe of her beautiful and graceful way of taking people the fuck out.

And then, she turned around and sent you off to help with the hostages. “Aqua, sweetie,” her voice held that sticky sweet fake kindness, “can you go help with the hostages?” Of course you said yes; you had yet to see first hand what happens to someone that pissed Widow off, but you had heard stories about it.

So you went off, hitting people in the face with ice and water as you did.

*_*_*_*_*_*

So imagine your surprise when, as you’re loading up the jet with the hostages, a very angry Cap storms out with a semi-apologetic Widow behind him. You stared at them curiously, but decided not to pry when Cap grabbed you by the arm and pulled you onto the jet. He pointedly glared at Nat as he talked to Rumlow, the commander.

Then, you looked up at him. He stared down at you, the almost-foot height difference making his chin press in towards his neck. “Did you do it, Cap?” you asked excitedly.

“Do what?”

In your best Mortal Kombat voice, you screamed, “FINISH HIM.”


	20. Let me guess, someone took your sweetroll

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve has worries. You have lunch.

Steve had gone off to Fury, fuming over something he didn’t feel obliged to share after you returned from the rescue mission. So you shrugged and walked off towards the cafeteria. You had forgotten you were ‘in uniform’ as you walked down (deciding against the elevator). On the way to the cafeteria, you bumped into a group of school kids. Apparently, S.H.I.E.L.D. had opened common tours back up; they showed the kids anything that was opened to the public for free, and for an extra twenty bucks they could see level one experiments in action

All the kids stared at you in awe, the teacher and guide with them telling the students that you were the famous ‘Aquamarine.’ As if they needed to tell them again; you had heard thirty kids excitedly say ‘Oh my gosh, it’s Aqua!’ when you showed up. The guide informed you that they were heading to the cafeteria, and you offered to join them and do an impromptu Q&A session.

You munched on your favorite kind of sandwich and answered questions, blowing a solid thirty minutes with the kids. A lot of the girls in the class asked if Black Widow was your mom. Some of the boys asked if Iron Man was your boyfriend. The teacher apologized profusely, to which you let it go with a laugh.

You were mid-bite when the kids all dropped their food and looked behind you in awe. Turning around, you looked up and saw Steve striding towards you. He had a generally pissed off expression on his face, but it lightened slightly when he saw you surrounded by kids. Waving with your free hand, you continued to bite into your sandwich. He walked up, out of uniform and dressed in everyday (for him) wear, nabbing a fry from your plate.

“Ugh, jeez, Cap, get your own fries.” You glared up at him playfully, then shrugged your shoulders.

“What’re you doing down here?” he asked casually. You tilted your head in the direction of the kids.

“I bumped into these future-heroes on my way down to get lunch, so I figured I’d answer a few of their questions while I ate.” He nodded, and you lifted up the container of fries and gave it to him. He ate them quietly. “Be careful, Cap, you might gain _half an ounce_ of body fat eating those.” The kids snickered at your sarcastic tone. Steve faked a laugh. You looked at the empty tray, then at the smiling faces of the kids before you. “Well, I gotta go resume my everyday life, kiddos. It was fun talking to you!” You picked up the tray and walked to where you could drop it off.

You faintly heard Steve tell the kids goodbye as well, but you’re halfway down the hallway leading towards the stairs and undoing your belt. He took a few long strides to catch up with you, opening his mouth to speak. Before he could get anything out, you snarkily said, “Let me guess, someone stole your sweetroll.” He frowns, not understanding your reference. “Nothing, nothing; what’s up, Steve?”

“You just wanna ride back to the complex with me?” You looked up at him, seeing the stress in his face. You smiled and nodded, hoping that you’d ease whatever was on his mind slightly if you rode with him. He smiled down at you, a small smile that only pulled the corners of his mouth up slightly, before he looked away.

You two walked side-by-side in a comfortable silence. But, you broke said silence with a quiet, “What did Fury doooooo to pissssss you offfffff.” He looked down at you, baby blues glinting in the light. You didn’t look away, instead choosing to stop in the hallway, belt in one hand and the other stuffed in your hoodie’s pockets. He looked away, seemingly contemplating something.

“Just… go change. We need to go home.” You twisted your mouth into an unsure line, but nodded. He watched as you scampered off and towards an elevator.

Shaking his head, he wondered slightly if Fury had given you any secret missions like he had with Natasha. He knew that you two didn’t always go on the same missions, but the idea of him not being able to trust you frightened him slightly. You were a constant in his life, and you kept him grounded when he felt lost in a time that wasn’t his own.

He walked towards another elevator, hoping you’d understand to meet him at his bike in the parking garage. Just to be safe, he pulled his phone out and sent you a quick ‘meet me at my bike.’ He knew that your phone was with your stuff, not on your person.

Clicking the elevator’s ‘down’ button, Steve shoved his hands in his pockets. The shield on his back made a loud ‘clink!’ when it hit the metal of the elevator, but he didn’t flinch. It was practically a second nature to him. He hit the button to the correct parking garage floor, staring absently at the ceiling as it descended.

When he walked out to his bike, the elevator dinged behind him. Turning around, he saw you pulling your hoodie over your arm and the other hand pulling an Ugg boot onto your foot. You were the very definition of unorthodox; you weren’t neat, you weren’t polite, and you certainly weren’t ladylike. But, he liked it. He liked the fact that you were your own person, that you didn’t define yourself by other people’s standards. He liked _you_.

You smiled brightly at him, teeth biting into the strap of your bag as you struggled to pull everything on. But, you somehow managed it. You fell forward as your foot slid into your boot. You played it off with a loud stomp and a smile, running towards him with a bright smile. He wondered if he could deal with you ever being told to lie or withhold information from him. He hoped you never had to.

Despite your rocky meeting, he trusted you. Steven Grant Rogers, _Captain America_ , trusted the five foot four girl with the bright (E/Color) eyes and rosy cheeks and water powers. The girl that had been with him through the first attack on Earth. The girl that told him that they were best friends.

“Steve!” you called, running up towards him. He smiled at you, stopping you from falling when you skidded to a halt and nearly tripped over your own two feet. You looked up at him, bright smile never once falling from your face. “Oh, man, dude,” you said excitedly, “let’s get home! Sydney’s all tucked away, and I’m super duper tired.”

He pulled the key to the bike from his pocket, turning it on and climbing onto it. You smiled at him, jumping on the back and wrapping your arms around his waist. He smiled slightly, kicking up the stand and pulling out. Then, he took off.

You buried your head into his back, and he could practically feel your eyes being clamped shut. He should’ve offered you the goggles he kept stored in the front compartment of the bike, but he had forgotten to. He thought he heard you whisper something, but he couldn’t make it out.

Finally, you spoke up, “Hey, Steve?!” He glanced over his shoulder quickly to acknowledge that he had heard you. You continued to speak, “Nat told me that she lied to you! Are you scared that everyone’s been lying to you!?” He didn’t respond. “Because, dude, like I told you before, I don’t lie to my friends!” Some of the unease in his stomach dropped with those words.

“Thanks!” he called back. He could feel your smile pressing into the back of his jacket.

“No problem, dude!”

With that, you both continued to ride on, a peaceful silence having fallen.


	21. Sweet Jesus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fury's dead.

You sat on the couch in your apartment, Animal Planet pulled up on the big screen. Steve had gone out to do some self-searching, as you had put it. You had chinese in your lap, fork bringing noodles to your lips so you could eat the delectableness that was lo mein. You were currently watching a series of cute animals, and you found yourself frequently whispering, “So smol!”

You were entranced until you heard Steve talking to the nurse that lived across the hall from you. You stepped out, then felt really awkward because he had seemingly been asking her out or something. Not that you cared. Nope. Haha… So you stepped back inside your room, fighting back an angry glare. You didn’t care. You didn’t care.

Ten minutes later, you heard gunshots. And your first thought?

_Shit, **Steve!**_

You stood up, taking off for his door. Slamming it open, you see Kate, the nurse, sitting above a gunshot’d Fury. Your eyes widened and you looked at Steve. He looked back at you, then nodded. For some reason, you understood what he wanted you to do. So you turned on the faucet and gathered water around yourself, Kate, and Fury.

*_*_*_*_*_*

When Steve showed up at the hospital, you collapsed into a chair and held your head in your hands. It was taking a lot out of you not to cry from stress. Fury was laying on a surgery table, his chances of surviving very low. Steve was leaning against the surgery window, watching as the doctors worked. And you? You were there, feeling useless.

Natasha stormed in, but you were too busy _being useless_ to listen to Steve repeat information you already knew. But when you heard the heart monitor flat line, you stood up and pushed to the window. You watched as they tried to resuscitate Fury. They failed.

Fury was dead.

Steve walked out while Maria and Natasha watched with wet eyes. You looked away; it almost felt as if you were disrespecting Fury if you cried. He was strong. He might not’ve always been in the right, but what he did he did for good. He wouldn’t want people to cry. So you took a page from Steve’s book and walked out into the hallway, finding another chair to sit in and another way to bury your face in your hands.

Eventually, they wheeled his body out of the room and to the morgue. Natasha grabbed your hand and followed, eyes still wet and tears stains barely visible on her cheeks. When you arrived at the morgue, Steve was already there, staring at the body. Natasha simply stood overtop of it and looked. You stood beside him, arms crossed as you looked over Fury’s features.

After a few moments, Maria stepped in. “I need to take him.” You looked over at her, seeing her very visibly trying not to cry. Steve stepped forward, with you trailing behind.

You whispered her name softly. Steve said it louder, “Natasha.” She placed a hand on Fury’s head, then walked out without a word. You and Steve followed her out. When you called out a soft ‘Nat!’ she turned around and looked at your partner pointedly.

“Why was Fury in your apartment?”

He raised his hands, “I… I dunno.”

Rumlow showed up, walking with loud footsteps. “Cap! They want you back at S.H.I.E.L.D.”

Steve looked at the man, “Gimme a minute.”

“They want you now.”

You mentally hissed at the man. First off, Fury, whom you all respected, just died. Second off, he didn’t need to sound so short with Cap.

His response was a short, “Okay.” With that, Rumlow walked off.

Natasha smirked slightly, “You’re a terrible liar.” She stalked off.

You looked at Steve, then after Nat, then shook your head. You looked back up at him. “Figure out what happened. Come to me if you need help.” He nodded. You stood up on your tiptoes, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “You come back to me now, you hear? Can’t be losing my best friend.” He nodded. With that, you walked off.

You mumbled a soft, “Sweet Jesus.”


	22. I'm in the middle of some calibrations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *hacker voice* I'm in

Natasha grabbed your from your apartment. Like, literally, grabbed you. She just came up and grabbed your wrist, pulling you into a car. Fortunately enough for you, you had changed out of your bloodied clothes and into a comfortable zip up hoodie, a t-shirt with some band on it, some skinny jeans and sneakers. You looked ready to hang out. You also looked as normals as possible.

She looked at you with steely eyes. “What happened last night, (F/Name)?” You blinked, then recounted what Steve had told you. She nodded, red hair flying out as she did so. “Okay. Well then, Steve’s gonna want,” she pulled a silver flash drive from her pocket, “this.”

You tilted your head, “What’s that?”

Nat grinned slightly, “What Fury was killed for.” Your mouth made an ‘o’ shape, and you nodded.

“Really important intel?”

“The most important.” You nodded again. “C’mon, he’s gonna be looking for it soon.”

“Where are we going?”

“Back to the hospital.”

You stuck your tongue out, “I hate hospitals.”

*_*_*_*_*_*

When you two popped up behind him, he obviously hadn’t been expecting it. He turned around, waited for a doctor to pass, then grabbed each of you by the arms and dragged you into a room. He looked uber pissed.

“Where is it!?” he hissed lowly, but sounding entirely angry. You had not seen this Steve before. The pure anger Steve. He was scary.

Nat looked up at him pointedly, “Somewhere safe.”

He practically spat out, “Do better.”

“Where did you get it?”

“Why would I tell you?”

You just remained quiet as it clicked in your head; Fury. Fury gave it to him.

“Fury gave it to you. Why?”

“What’s on it?”

“I dunno.”

He let go of your arm, instead choosing to grasp Natasha by both her shoulders and hissing, “Stop lying!”

“I only act like I know everything, Rogers.” You had never heard her sound so vulnerable before. It was new.

Steve glanced over his shoulder. “I bet you knew Fury hired the pirates, didn’t you?”

She blinked quickly, looking away. “Well, it makes sense. The ship was dirty; Fury needed a way in and so did you.”

He gripped her shoulders again, “I’m not gonna ask you again.” You looked at her in awe. She had told you this part. The part about the Winter Soldier. The man of legends. The assassin throughout the ages.

The Winter fucking Soldier.

*_*_*_*_*_*

“The first rule of goin’ on the run is: don’t run, walk.” You looked like an awkward baby sister as you dawdled behind Steve and Natasha, who were walking ahead of you. Steve was looking around nervously, having never had to hide his face before. From the public eye? Sure, he’s hid his face. But from an entire organization? Nope.

“If I run in these shoes they’re gonna fall off,” was his snappy comeback. Nat had bought you and Steve some new, cool, ‘we’re on the run!’ clothes. You were dressed in a leather jacket and bright pink t-shirt. Your hair was tied up underneath a beanie, and you wore a pair of hipster shades. She had traded your skinny jeans for some tight black sweatpants, and your sneakers for actual gym shoes.

You followed them up to an Apple store, and you stood guard as they prepared to shove the flash drive into the computer. “The drive has a level six homing system, so as soon as we boot up S.H.I.E.L.D. will know exactly where we are.”

“How much time will we have?” Steve asked.

“About nine minutes from…” She plugged the drive in. “Now.” As it loaded up, she muttered, “Fury was right about that ship. Somebody was trying to hide something. This drive is protected by some sorta weird AI. It keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands.”

“Can you get over it?” you asked from your spot.

Nat glanced at you, seeing you messing around on another laptop. “The person who made this is _slightly_ smarter than me… Slightly.” She typed away, “I’m gonna try running a tracer. This is a program S.H.I.E.L.D. developed to track hostile malware, so, if we can’t _read_ the file, maybe we can find out where it came from.”

One of the employees walked over to you, a kind smile on his face. “Can I help you guys with anything?” Natasha immediately grabbed you, shoving you towards the man as she continued to work.

“Sorry,” you grinned, thinking on your feet. “My sister’s here with my best friend, they’re planning a surprise birthday trip for another friend of ours!”

“Oh, nice, where are you guys thinking about going?” Steve leaned over at this question, looking at Natasha’s screen.

“Oh, you know… New Jersey.”

“Huh!” the employee responded, staring at Steve firmly. “I have the exact same glasses.”

You scoffed, and Nat said a sarcastic, “Wow, you two are practically twins!”

The guy laughed, “Hah! I wish. If you guys need anything,” he lifted his badge up, “I’m Arin.”

You smiled at him, “Oh, thanks!”

Steve leaned back over to Nat, “You said nine minutes, come on, hurry up.”

“Relax… I got it.” You glanced at the screen, seeing it focus in on someplace in Wheaton, New Jersey. Steve stared at it.

“You know it?” you asked.

“I used to.”

With that, he unplugged it and led you two off.

*_*_*_*_*_*

“Shut up and put your arm around (F/Name). Laugh at something she said.” You blinked, staring at Nat as if she had grown a second head.

“What?” you and Steve asked in unison.

“Just do it.” So he did it, wrapping his arm around your shoulders while Natasha lagged behind, looking like a third wheel. He laughed, and you felt his breath fan against your cheek. The guards that had been walking towards you just walked right on by, as if nothing had happened.

*_*_*_*_*_*

You saw Rumlow heading up the escalator, and you nudged Nat in the ribs, having no idea what in the hell to do. She looked at you, then at Steve, then pushed you towards him. “Kiss him.”

“What? Why!?”

“Public displays of affection make people uncomfortable.” You shrugged; well, here goes. You grabbed Steve by the side of his face, cradling his chin in your palm as you kissed him. It was a barely there kiss, almost too light to count as one. But he set his hands on your waist and kissed you back. You assumed he knew that Rumlow was coming up, or that he had heard your earlier conversation.

Pulling away after Rumlow had passed, you looked up at Steve with a big blush on your cheeks. You mouthed a quick ‘oh God I’m sorry’ to him, and he shook it off with a wave of his hand.

Your lips tingled.

*_*_*_*_*_*

You had been snoozing in the back of the truck Steve had stolen when you slammed your head against the side, waking yourself up. You didn’t feel like moving, so you continued to lay with your eyes closed. Natasha and Steve were talking softly, so you decided to listen in.

At, apparently, _the worst time ever._

“Was that your first kiss since nineteen forty-five?”

“...why?”

“Because I want to know if it was okay. (F/Name) seems a little inexperienced in the kissing department.” You almost shot up and yelled; you had kissed at least one boy! At least! Maybe two! Three if you counted Steve… Shit. You really were inexperienced.

“It was good.” He refrained from speaking, but apparently there was something he wanted to say.

“ _Just_ good?”

“Her lips were really soft. Do you think her water powers keep her naturally soft like that?” he sounded a little flushed.

You blushed madly at that. Your lips were soft? Really? Goodness gracious.

You bumped your head again, but this time, you were lost in your own little world of kissing Steve. And so, you drifted back to sleep.


	23. Worst. Scientist. Ever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y'all almost die.

You had been woken up gently, a hand on your shoulder and a few whispers of your name. Rubbing your eyes, you sat up and gave a lopsided smile to Natasha and Steve. You were still in fluffy, ‘I-gotta-kiss-Steve’ mode. You would probably be that way for a while.

Natasha offered you her hand as you crawled out of the back of the blue truck, but you denied it with a shake of your head and another smile. She smiled back, that motherly smile you only saw on rare occasions, and stepped back, letting you get out. Your good mood almost immediately fell at the sight in front of you. It was a dark, moody base of some sort. It looked abandoned.

“This is it?” Steve asked, walking up and standing beside you. You stood in between him and Nat, who was glancing at her phone.

“File came from these coordinates.” You frowned again, crossing your arms. The upside was that it looked like it was about to rain.

“So did I,” he responded, glancing at a sign on the fence gate. It stated blandly, ‘Camp Lehigh.’ You glanced at him, then walked back to the truck. A water bottle sat in your cup holder, and you grabbed it.

“Do we have a plan on getting through this gate?” you asked, smirking to yourself for your genius-ness. Nat looked at you, then at the bottle of water.

“Do you really think water’s going to get us through this gate?”

“Not water, no.” You undid the cap, pulling the water from the bottle and smirking when you raised the tendril above your head. “But, with enough force…” You forced your body temperature to lower. The water hardened into ice, and you forced it to drop into the lock keeping the gate closed. The ice cracked, but the lock (which was slightly rusted) cracked as well. The gate slammed open from the force, and the ice shattered. Grinning at your sudden helpfulness, you looked between them. “Ice will certainly do the job.”

Nat made a ‘not bad’ face, tilting her head slightly in semi-awe. Night had started to settle upon your group as you walked through the gate. She held her phone in front of her, trying to read off of the coordinates. You walked beside Steve, looking up at the cloudy sky.

“I was trained here,” he said absently. You looked up at him, hoping he would elaborate.

“Change much?” she asked.

He stopped, staring at a flagpole with his eyebrows drawn into a crease. “A little.” You followed his gaze to the flagpole, seeing it devoid of any flags. It hit you suddenly. He came from World War II’s era, where everything and everyone was patriotic. There was no American flag on the pole.

That probably hurt a little.

He stared at something, eyes moving across the nothingness. You simply watched, being the loyal friend and probable sidekick. He seemed to be in awe as he watched whatever was unfolding in front of him.

Natasha sighed, breaking him from his trance. “This is a dead end. Zero waves, zero heat signatures…” She pocketed her phone, staring off into the distance. “Whoever wrote the file must’ve used a router to throw people off.” Steve looked where she was looking, then took off.

“What is it, Steve!?” you called after him, sprinting to catch up. Natasha followed you two, lagging behind as she did so.

“Army regulations forbids the storing of munitions within five hundred feet of the barracks…” He glanced at you and Nat. “This building’s in the wrong place.” He walked towards the lock, slamming his shield (which you hadn’t noticed he had brought) against it. The lock cracked, and he opened the door with ease (despite the fact that it looked like at least a bajillion pounds).

You two followed him down, and you tried to draw water from the air around you. It formed into bubbles suspended in mid-air, and you were thankful that the room wasn’t too terribly dry. At least now, if you were to be suddenly attacked, you could throw up a bubble shield. That could take the brunt of the damage.

Steve flipped a switch, and you recognized the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on the far wall. You weren’t the only one, as Nat said, “This is S.H.I.E.L.D..”

“Might be where it started.” You fell back, still drawing water from the air.

“There’s Stark’s father.” You glanced into a room they stood in, seeing a picture of a man with a stunning resemblance to Tony.

“Howard.”

You looked up, walking behind them and staring at the pictures. “Oh, man. Peggy Carter?” you asked, staring at the picture of the (then) young S.H.I.E.L.D. operative. Steve glanced down at you, then walked away. You glanced after him, then looked at Nat, who was looking at you. “Did I fuck up?” you muttered softly. She shrugged.

Steve stopped at a bookshelf. “If you already work in a secret office…” He pushed the bookshelves aside, “Why do you need to hide the elevator?”

And so, down you went.

*_*_*_*_*_*

“This can’t be the data point.” You looked around the room, examining the old computers and such. “This technology is ancient.” A silver and blue USB hub caught your attention.

You pointed at it, “That’s not.” Nat walked up, contemplating something before plugging the drive in it. The room lit up, different kinds of computers lighting up. You looked around in awe, but a sinking feeling took residence in your stomach.

A computerized voice brought you out of your sinking feeling, and you looked at the screen when it asked, “Initiate system?”

Natasha walked towards the keyboard, then quickly typed, “Y-E-S. Yes.” She smirked to herself. “Shall we play a game?” You snickered, but Steve remained silent. She looked back at him, “It’s from a movie, a pop culture-”

“I know. I know.”

The screen did something funky, and you stared at it when it started to speak. “Rogers, Steven. Born nineteen eighteen.” A camera moved towards Natasha, “Romanov, Natasha. Born nineteen eighty-four.” Then, it moved towards you, “(L/Name), (F/Name). Born nineteen ninety.” You blinked. How did it know that?

“It’s some kind of recording…?”

“I am not a recording, frauline. I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in nineteen forty-five, but I am.” A picture popped up on the screen beside the funky dude, and you looked at it.

“Steve, you know this guy?”

“Zolow was a German Scientist that worked for Red Skull. He’s been dead for years.”

“First correction!” the computerized voice said. “I still am. Second, look around you.” You looked around, in awe. “I have never been more alive. In nineteen seventy-two, I received a terminal diagnosis. Science could not save my body. My _mind_ , however, that was worth saving. Two hundred thousand feet of data banks. You are standing in my brain.”

“How’d you get here?” Steve asked.

“Invited!” Natasha rambled something off about S.H.I.E.L.D. inviting German scientists with strategic value. “They thought I could help their cause. I also helped my own.”

“HYDRA died with the Red Skull!” Steve sounded _pissed_.

“Cut off one head,” the screen doubled, “two more shall take its place.”

“Prove it.”

“Accessing archive!” Images appeared on the screens, “HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize, was that if you try to take that freedom, the resist. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded, and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew, a beautiful parasite. Inside S.H.I.E.L.D.. For seventy years, HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis. We’ve been war. And when history did not cooperate… History was changed.”

“That’s impossible, S.H.I.E.L.D. would’ve stopped you.”

“Accidents… will happen. HYDRA created a world so chaotic, humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once the purification is complete, HYDRA’s new world order… will arise. We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your life… zero sum!” Steve punched the screen. You thought it was over, until he reappeared on another screen. “As I was saying…”

“Hey, dickbag!” you called out. “What’s on the fucking drive!?” You were steaming over the fact that he thought Steve was zero. Steve was fucking… a world savior!

“Project Insight, young frauline, requires… insight. I wrote an algorithm.”

“What kind, dickhole!?” you were yelling now. You didn’t notice, but the water bubbles started to lose their bubbly shape. Instead, they were solidifying into ice spikes.

“The answer is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it.” Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. The elevator door was shutting and all your bubbles were ice and you had no idea how to unfreeze them. Steve chucked his shield at the closing door, but it bounced off.

“Steve, (F/Name), we’ve got a bogey. Short ranged, thirty seconds tops.”

“Who fired it?” he asked, looking distraught.

“S.H.I.E.L.D..”

“I am afraid I have been _stalling_ , Captain. Admit it,” Steve grabbed you, then forced you towards a grating hole. He pushed you down in it, and you swear something in your wrist popped. “It is better this way.” He grabbed Natasha just as the building exploded. The fire was melting your spikes, but you had no way to get the quickly evaporating water to you. Steve threw himself over you, and you looked up at him. Then, with the smoke clogging your mouth and nose, the world went black.

*_*_*_*_*_*

When you came to, you were sitting in a pile of rubble, Steve’s body overtop of yours. You looked up at him, then tried to move your arms so you could tap his face. “Steve.” Your voice was a croak, and you knew you were dehydrated. The fire had sucked all the water right out of you. “Steeeeeve,” you whined, despite the fact it felt like your throat was ripping.

His brow creased as he woke up, and he looked down at you. “Are you okay?” he asked. You nodded, smiling slightly. At least he was still Steve and not some ‘I-lost-my-memory’ Steve. He pushed rubble off of your group with a grunt, then helped you out. Natasha was still unconscious. You looked at him, then at her, then nodded.

“Get her up.” You looked at the sky, seeing some quinjets coming in. “Pick her up! Christ, Steve! We’ve got people incoming!” He picked her up, then led you off. You followed him closely, one hand on the back of his jacket at all times.

*_*_*_*_*_*

When you were finally safe in a field pretty far off, you collapsed onto the ground with a loud huff. “Jesus Christ, that was absolute hell.” Steve nodded, setting Natasha against the ground. “I assume we’re gonna find a car to take somewhere.”

“Yeah.” He looked disgruntled.

“Where are we going?” you asked softly. “Because I’m lost as to what the fuck just happened Steve.” He looked down at you, watching as you sat up. “All I know is that the worst scientist ever just tried to kill us, man.” You looked up at him, pulling your legs into your chest and setting your cheek against your knee. “I don’t know what’s happening, man.”

He leaned down, touching your knee and getting you to look at him. “It’ll be okay.”

“Are you sure? Because, like, everything I’ve ever known has just kinda fallen into the dirt. S.H.I.E.L.D. is actually HYDRA, but not really? Like, what the fuck!? Holy shit, I just--God damn it, I can’t--” Your eyes started to well up with tears you shouldn’t have had. “How do I know that I haven’t been doing missions for HYDRA all along?”

He leaned forward slightly, pressing a kiss to your forehead. You looked up at him, eyes wide and tear tracks very visible. Your mouth trembled before you leaned forward, throwing caution to the wind. Your lips pressed against his and you sighed against him. Steve was here. Steve was here. He wasn’t going anywhere. You were safe with him.

He raised a hand from his side, cradling the side of your head as he kissed you back. It was gentle. Not rushed, but not forced. It felt like comfort and home. You pulled away after a few moments, smiling up at him. With a self-deprecating chuckle, you said, “I hope that my kissing experience isn’t _too_ bad.”

He grinned, “Not at all.”


	24. Not a single fuck was given that day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam joins the team. You almost die of dehydration.

Your arms were clenched tightly around your midsection. You hadn’t been able to get a drink of water since the fire, and it was starting to take a very bad physical toll on you. You felt like death itself as you stood beside Steve. 

Sam opened his blinds first, then once he saw who was there, he opened the door. “Hey man,” he greeted, sounding worried.

Steve said quietly, “I’m sorry about this. We need a place to lay low.”

“Everyone we know is trying to kill us and (F/Name)’s dying of dehydration.” You shot a pointed look at Nat, which made your head hurt. Sam looked between you three, then nodded slightly.

“Not everyone.” He let you guys in, then shut his door and blinds. He turned to look at you, “What’s wrong with you?”

“I, uh, I’m Aquamarine and when I get dehydrated it has really, _really_ bad effects on my body.” His eyes widened slightly as he nodded again, walking over to his sink and grabbing a glass. When he handed it to you, you drank from it greedily.

“Feel free to get as much as you need.” You nodded, refilling the glass and drinking from it again. He looked between your group again, then pointed to a bedroom. “There’s a bathroom in there. Feel free to clean up.” You all nodded, but you continued to stay at the sink, drinking cup after cup of water.

*_*_*_*_*_*

You had offered to help Sam with breakfast, laughing with him despite the fact your world was crumbling down. “So you’re really Aqua?” he asked after a few moments. You nodded, turning on his sink and forming a few fish. They swam around him, and he looked at them in awe. “Okay, I can believe that.”

“Glad I make a convincing argument.” He chuckled at that, buttering some bread while you dug around his cupboards for cups. You figured someone would want something to drink. You finally found them, turning your fish back into a stream of water and filling each cup up. Sam stopped buttering the bread, still in awe. “Okay, cool, water is ready. I doubt they’ll eat. They seem to survive on nothing. But I’ll eat, like, everything. I love food. Food and water makes (F/Name) happy.”

Sam grinned, “Yeah? Well, I’ll go tell them breakfast is ready.” You smiled at him as he walked off.

“Make sure they know I helped!”

*_*_*_*_*_*

“So, the question is who at S.H.I.E.L.D. can launch a domestic missile strike?” You glanced at Natasha, munching on a piece of toast quietly. You still weren’t fully aware of all things S.H.I.E.L.D., as was made obvious by your earlier breakdown, but you still wanted to learn.

“Pierce.”

“Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world.”

“He’s not working alone… Zolov’s algorithm was on the Star.”

Natasha looked as if she had just figured out the secret to life. “So was Jasper Sidwell.”

“So the real question is how do the three most wanted people in Washington kidnap a S.H.I.E.L.D. officer in broad daylight?” Sam walked off, grabbed something, then walked over to Steve.

“Your answer is: you don’t.” He plopped the manilla folder onto the table.

“What’s this?” Steve asked.

“Call it a resume.”

They discussed it over, using military terms you didn’t really understand, but you did understand the fact that Steve said, “I thought you said you were a pilot.”

Sam grinned, “I never said I was a pilot.”

“I can’t ask you to do this. You got out for a good reason.”

“Dude,” you grinned at his term, “ _Captain America_ needs my help. There’s no better reason to get back in.” You smiled at Steve, who was smiling at Sam.

“Where can we get our hands on one of these things?”

“The last one is at Fort V. Behind three guarded gates and a twelve inch steel wall.”

Steve glanced at you, then at Natasha. “Shouldn’t be too hard.”

*_*_*_*_*_*

You pushed Sidwell up the stairs, glaring at him. He was remaining surprisingly quiet, until Steve shoved him through the door with force. “Tell me about Zolov’s algorithm.”

“Never heard of it.” Your group was backing him towards the ledge, and he struggled to put his glasses on. 

“What were you doing on the Star?”

“I was throwing up. I get seasick.” His legs bumped the ledge, and he almost fell backwards. Steve caught him. Sidwell grinned, “Is this little display meant to insinuate that you’re going to throw me off the roof? ‘Cause it’s really not your style, Rogers.”

The blond straightened his suit out as he said, “You're right. It’s not. It’s hers.” He backed away as Natasha walked towards him. Then, she kicked him off.

Sidwell screamed as he went down.

Natasha snapped her fingers, “Wait wait. You mean to tell me that that guy from Logistics was your first date in three years, (F/Name)?”

“How did this conversation come up again? Because I really feel like now is an inappropriate time to be discussing my love life.” You crossed your arms, hearing Sidwell’s screams as Sam brought him back up. You whistled at the bird man, smiling up at him. He dropped Sidwell to the ground, landing smoothly and bringing the wings back in. He turned around, goggles on his eyes.

As you three walked towards the HYDRA officer, he screamed out, “Zolov’s algorithm is a program! For choosing… Insight’s targets.”

“What targets?”

He rambled off names, calling out you, Steve, and Bruce. Then he said, “Anyone who’s a threat to HYDRA. Now… or in the future.”

“Future? How could it know?”

Sidwell chuckled darkly before saying, “How could it not?” He stood up, “The twenty first century is a digital book. Zolov taught HYDRA how to read it. Your bank records! Medical history, voting patterns, e-mails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores! Zolov’s algorithm evaluates people’s pasts… to predict their future.”

“What then?”

“My God, Pierce is gonna kill me.”

“What then!?”

Sam grabbed Sidwell by the back of his suit jacket. He looked up at Steve, who had walked up to him. “Then the Insight carriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time.”


	25. You Mad?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!

“HYDRA doesn’t like leaks.” You glanced at Sidwell, who you were awkwardly smushed against.

“Then why don’t you try stickin’ a cork in it,” Sam countered from behind the wheel. You held a water bottle in your hand, drinking from it as you guys drove along.

Natasha leaned up, talking to Steve. “Insight’s launching in sixteen hours; we’re cutting it a little close here.”

“I know,” Steve muttered, glancing at you through the mirror. You smiled at him. “We’ll use him to bypass the DNA scans and access it directly.”

“What!? Are you crazy? That is a terrible, terrible idea.” At that moment, there was a loud clanging noise from the top of the car, and Sidwell was dragged out and thrown into oncoming traffic. You winced. Natasha threw you to the side as a bullet grazed your arm, and she climbed up and onto Steve. You looked at the roof with terror, as more gunshots came through the top of the car.

Steve threw the car into park, causing the assailant to fly off and before your group. You watched as he slowed himself down with a metal arm. The same metal arm Steve had told you about. Your eye twitched when he stood up, and Natasha grabbed her gun to shoot him. Another vehicle slammed into your rear end, forcing your guys forward and towards the man.

The man jumped and latched onto the top of the car, then slammed his metal hand through the windshield and ripped the steering wheel out. Sam screamed out a ‘shit!’ while you looked at Nat, who had gotten her gun. She shot at the man through the top of the car, but he didn’t die. You saw through the rear windshield that he jumped onto the car behind you. Your car lost control, and it started to flip.

“AQUA!” You perked up when Steve called your name. “A BUBBLE SHIELD WOULD BE NICE!” You nodded, slipping the water out of your bottle and forming a shield as your group fell from the car. Your bubble rolled, and it wasn’t until you were halfway out of the car that you realized you weren’t in it.

“Shit.”

You drew as much water as you could from the air, forming a cushion beneath you. You landed gently as you bubble skidded to a stop. The water was released and when you got up Steve was in front of you, grabbing you with one hand and raising his shield to protect himself from an incoming rocket. You two were thrown off the bridge, and you landed on top of a car with a loud groan. Fortunately (or unfortunately, you didn’t really know) the car was stopped.

You writhed in pain for quite a while, shaking your body back and forth. You weren’t dead, so there was that. But you were most assuredly going to have a bruise the size of Madagascar on your back.

You could hear gunfire above you, and you tried to gather water to throw a shield up. You found that you couldn’t really move. You heard someone call out your name, and you saw Natasha against a car and the concrete railing. She was looking at you with wide, worried eyes. “GET UP!” she screamed.

The pain in your body was overtaken by adrenaline, and you stood up. Seemed luck was on your side, since another explosion went off and Natasha was thrown over the side. You gathered water and formed a cushion beneath her. She shook her head as she got out of the bubble, water flicking out of her hair. You smiled, then jumped off of the car. “I’m gonna look for Steve!” you yelled. She nodded.

More gunfire filled the air after she landed a shot on the tin man (had you not been mid-fight for your life, you would’ve laughed at your joke), and you looked around for Steve. You saw people crawling out of an overturned bus.

It seemed like your best bet was to check in there.

You threw a shield up as shots were sent your way, the water stopping the bullets in their tracks. A submachine gun was brought out, and you threw another shield in front of the bus as it went off. It tried to shoot through your shield, but you kept it up while you walked through. At the end of the bus, Steve jumped out. You smiled at him successfully, but apparently that smile was too much. A stray bullet caught you in the shoulder, and you fell forward.

Steve screamed out and blood poured from your shoulder. You looked down at it, then bit your lip. You had to get up. You had to fight. He grabbed his shield from the ground as shots littered the area, running up and covering you. You smiled, “Dude, I’m fine. Go kick some ass!” It was a lie but he didn’t need to be worrying about you.

He took off, and you pulled a shield up. You stood up on shaking legs, looking around for where you were needed.

Tin man was walking towards Natasha. You growled, boxing him in with water. You forced your body temperature down, hoping that the ice would keep him in. He shot off two rounds, cracking through it.

“ _Shit!_ ”

He looked over his shoulder at you, turning his gun towards you and firing off a round. You jumped out of the way, but he didn’t come after you. Instead, he kept going after Natasha.

Your body felt faint, but you ran after him.

Natasha grabbed you, after she ran off, pulling you to the side. “(F/Name), you’re hit.”

“No,” you laughed, “really?” You looked at her, seeing a bullet wound of her own. You chuckled, “We match.” She frowned, but picked up a rocket launcher tin man had dropped and shot it at him. He was gone.

You bit your lip as you were surrounded. You were cuffed and taken in.

Mentally, you answered a question that came into your head.

_Yes, I **am** mad._


	26. I'm in lesbian with you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Steve have a talk.

“Who the hell was that?” you asked, feeling the morphine injection they had given you start to take effect. You didn’t feel as much pain as you did before.

“It was Bucky.” You stared at him.

“As in… Bucky Barnes?”

He nodded, “It was him… He looked right at me. He didn’t even know me.”

“How’s that even possible? That’s like, seventy years ago,” Sam said. You looked at Steve, who looked absolutely crestfallen. You laid your head on his shoulder, hoping it showed that you were with him through the long haul.

“Zolov. Bucky’s whole unit was captured in forty-three. Zolov experimented on them. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall… Must’ve found him…” You could tell Steve was blaming himself for what happened to Bucky.

“It’s not your fault, Steve,” you said, trying to comfort him. He looked away from you.

“Even when I had nothing I had Bucky.”

You looked over at Natasha, who was in very obvious pain. The morphine injection they gave her apparently was not working. Sam noticed. “We need to get a doctor here. We don’t put pressure on that wound she could bleed out!” One of the guards brought out a taser stick menacingly, shutting Sam up. Then, they slammed the taser stick into the other guard and knocked them out.

You would recognize that kick anywhere. The guard took off their helmet, and you smiled widely. “Maria!”

Her hair was a mess, “Augh. That thing was squeezing my brain.” She looked at Sam. “So… who’s this guy?”

*_*_*_*_*_*

Maria had gotten you to a safe zone, somewhere your group of runaways wouldn’t be found. An old dam.

Fun.

As she walked you in, she called out to a man running towards your group, “GSWs! They’ve lost at least a pint a piece!”

“Maybe two!”

The man said, “Lemme take ‘em!”

Maria shook her head. “They’ll want to see him first.” You looked at her, quirking a brow up. Him? Was this him important? She smirked, “It’s exactly who you think it is.” Your brow dropped and you followed her quickly, holding your shoulder.

If it really was Fury, you were gonna be _pissed._

She led you guys back, and lo and behold, there was Fury, laying on a hospital bed. You glared at him, ignoring the small throbs in your shoulder. He gave you an equally intense glare. “It’s about damn time.”

The doctor started to work on you, applying pressure to the wound as you glared at Fury. After your wound was under control, he moved to Natasha.

Fury started to recount his injuries. “Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, one hell of a hit.”

The doc spoke up, “Don’t forget your collapsed lung.”

Fury smirked, “Let’s not forget that. But otherwise, I’m good.”

Natasha said, “They cut you open. Your heart stopped.”

“Tetrodotoxin B. Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn’t work so great for him, but we found a use for it.”

“Why all the secrecy?” Steve asked, looking at Fury. You crossed your arms and glared at him angrily. “Why not just tell us?”

“Any attempt on the director’s life had to look successful,” Hill jumped in.

“Can’t kill ya if you’re already dead. ‘sides… I wasn’t sure who to trust.”

*_*_*_*_*_*

You stood around a table, leaning on Steve because where else were you supposed to lean? Fury was looking at a picture of Pierce, face flat and unexpressive. “This man declined a Nobel peace prize. He said ‘peace wasn’t an achievement. It was a responsibility.’” He threw the photo down. “See? It’s stuff like this that gives me trust issues.”

Natasha said flatly, “We have to stop the launch.”

Fury looked at her as he opened up a briefcase, revealing three chips. “I don’t think the counsel’s accepting my calls anymore.”

“What are those?” you asked, staring at the blue chips with intrigue. 

Maria Hill flipped her screen around, showing a diagram of how the carriers would link. “Once the helicarriers reach three thousand feet, they’ll sync up with Insight satellites, becoming fully weaponized.”

“We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own.”

“One or two won’t cut it; we need to link all three carriers for this to work because, if one of those ships remain operational, a whole lot of people are gonna die.”

“We have to assume everyone aboard those ships are HYDRA. We need to get past them and insert these blades and maybe, just maybe, we can salvage what’s left--”

“We’re not salvaging anything!” Steve interrupted. “We’re not just taking down the carriers, Nick, we’re taking down S.H.I.E.L.D..”

“S.H.I.E.L.D. had nothing to do with this!”

“You gave me this mission. This is how it ends. S.H.I.E.L.D.’s been compromised, you said so yourself. HYDRA grew right under your nose and nobody noticed.”

“Why do you think we’re meeting in this cave? I noticed.”

“How many paid the price before you did?”

Nick looked away before saying softly, “Look, I didn’t know about Barnes.”

“Even if you had, would you have told me? Or would you have compartmentalized that, too? S.H.I.E.L.D., HYDRA… It all goes.” Fury looked to Hill, who mumbled a soft ‘he’s right.’ Then, he looked to Natasha, who leaned back in her chair. He looked at you, and you smirked and crossed your arms. He looked at Sam finally.

“Hey, don’t look at me. I do what he does… Just slower.” You snickered at that.

Fury leaned back in his chair, “Well, it looks like you’re giving the orders now, Captain.”

*_*_*_*_*_*

Steve had gotten on top of the dam, and he was staring off into the distance. You had found him leaning against the railing casually, almost looking like a picture perfect rendition of sereneness. But you knew there was a lot more to him than that.

He looked at you when you leaned against him, staring out at the trees. “You know what, Steve, I’m with you ‘til the end.” He looked away. “And not just ‘cause I kissed you, man. That’s part of the reason, but not the entire reason.” You snickered, “I could list reasons why I’m with you ‘til the end, but I doubt you need to hear them.”

“What are they?” he asked. You looked up at him, then shrugged your shoulders.

“I’m _in lesbian_ with you. That’s the main reason.”

“‘In lesbian’?”

“Fuck. You haven’t seen that movie! You wouldn’t get the joke.” You turned to face him, and he turned to face you. “Look, man, I get that you’ve been through ten different kinds of shit, that your best friend just turned out to be the Winter Soldier, and that you feel like you’re out of time. But, I’m saying that I’m in love with you, Steve Rogers.” You smiled a familiar smile, one full of warmth and brightness, and he smiled slightly, too. “Even if I wasn’t in love with you, I’d be with you to the end. You’re my best friend. You stand up for all things good, for the freedom of everyone. You make the little guys feel like they can be whatever they want. You make me feel special. But, I get that I might be telling you this at a really bad time. I’m not up here hoping you’ll confess your love to me or anything. I’m up here to let you know that, if no one else is with you, I am.”

“Thanks, (F/Name).” He reached a hand forward, cupping the back of your head and drawing you closer to him. You looked up at him, that smile still on your face. “You’re right about it being a bad time. I’d at least like to be able to take you out on a proper date.” You chuckled, but what he said hit you.

“WHAT.” You looked up at him, but he had his lips pressed against yours. One hand was in your hair, cupping the back of your head, while the other one rested on the railing. You, set your hand on top of his, taking your other hand and setting it on his shoulder.

The kiss was soft and gentle. It reminded you of Steve. He was always soft and gentle, at least when it came to you. He slowly moved his lips, pulling away. You hadn’t even realized that you had closed your eyes until your eyelids fluttered open. He was staring down at you, and you stared up at him.

You laughed, “C’mon, Steve, do it again! I’ve got to give you seventy years worth of kisses, man. Better start soon.” He pressed his lips back to yours, and you hummed into the kiss.

You truly were in love with him.


	27. Cockblock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three months after the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., and he still hasn't taken you on a date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't feel like doing the entire last 30 minutes of the movie. Sors. But lemme tell you, if you imagine Aqua/yourself there, you're fucking sick. You did a bunch of these cool moves and you got to see Bucky and Steve fight and woah.

“Please!” you screamed from where you were trapped. “PLEASE BUCKY!” The Winter Soldier looked from where he was, staring at you with wet eyes. You were crying now, tears dripping down your face. “Please don’t kill Steve, Bucky!”

You had been assigned Insight ship three, and your mission had been going swimmingly until the Winter Soldier had kicked your ass. He had thrown you down, the chip on the ledge, then shot you through the leg. You had called in reinforcements. Steve had been those reinforcements, and, in the end, he got shot in the stomach.

“He’s my mission!” he screamed back, punching the man in the face.

“He’s your friend!” you screamed back, voice cracking. “Steve, please! Don’t let him kill you!” The tears were coming harder, and your voice was descending into sobs. The scaffolding holding the two men up fell, and with it went Steve. You screamed as the scaffolding then fell out from beneath you, sending you into the river below. You formed a bubble around yourself as you landed in the river, but the shock knocked you out.

When you came to, you were next to Steve on land. He was barely breathing and barely conscious, but you got him into an ambulance and to a hospital. The hospital had threatened to kick you out, since you kept unhooking yourself from IVs to go check on the man.

Finally, two days into your stay, he came to. You were sitting in his room, your IV stand pulled next to you. Sam sat in one chair, reading a magazine, while you sat on the floor with your laptop. They had recovered it from your apartment, thanks to the power of pinesol. You laptop was basically your life.

Sam had Trouble Man playing softly when he woke up. He looked at you, then at Sam, then murmured a soft ‘on your left.’ You jumped up and looked at him, touching his face and asking him repeatedly if he was okay. After your third time pressing a kiss to his forehead, he pushed you away and threatened to kick you out of the his room.

*_*_*_*_*_*

Three months after S.H.I.E.L.D.’s collapse, you were relocated back to New York and as ‘security’ for Tony Stark. Same with Cap. The job paid well, you got free room and board, and you didn’t have to really do anything. You made public appearances, now that your secret identity was out of the bag, and signed a lot of things for kids. You weren’t as popular as Steve was, but you still got recognized.

You were in your room, your fish swimming in a maze above your head, when the knock came from your door. You looked up and called out softly, “Yo?” Your door opened up, revealing one Steve Rogers standing before you. You blinked once before scrambling up and hugging him. He had been searching for Bucky diligently in the last three months, and he was frequently gone from the tower. You missed him a lot.

He caught you in your hug, but your force cause him to twirl you around. You stood on your tiptoes when you stopped spinning, staring up at him and silently asking if he had found any new leads. He shook his head. You frowned. “I guess that means you’ll be leaving again soon.” He looked away from you.

“Yeah.” You let go of him, taking his right hand into your left and playing with his fingers. You two had yet to go out on a date, so you two hadn’t been able to talk over the fact that you straight up told him you loved him. But you would never tell Steve that you were hurting; he probably hurt way worse than you did. He found out his best friend was alive and then said best friend ran off. “Are you gonna be--”

“Okay? Yeah.” You smiled up at him. “I’ll be fine, Steve.” He nodded, giving you a hesitant look. You weren’t lying; you would be fine. You had to be fine for him. You stepped back, letting go of his hand and motioning to your room. “You wanna come in? I just made a couple cups of tea.”

“A couple cups?” he asked, a knowing smile on his face.

You looked away, smiling bashfully. “JARVIS told me someone might be coming to see me, so I scrambled and made some tea real quick.” Looking up at him, you said again, “You wanna come in?” He nodded, stepping in. You shut your door as he walked in, and you turned around to see him staring up at your fish maze. You had replaced the lights in your room with blacklights, so your neon fish glowed. “You like it? Tony helped me put the blacklights in.”

“You and Tony have been getting awfully close.” He almost sounded jealous. You shrugged; Captain America didn’t get jealous.

“He’s had no one here to harass, so our coming was good.” You looked up at him, then at the fish. They sparkled in the light and in the water. Slowly, you noticed that his hand found yours. His fingers intertwined with yours. “Steve?” He looked down at you, then at your hands, then looked away. You repeated his name.

“You're crazy, you know that?” You quirked a brow.

“How, exactly, am I crazy?”

“For wanting to spend time with me.” You grinned, and he looked back at you when you chuckled.

“I love you. Of course I wanna spend time with you.”

“Ahh, yeah. I keep forgetting about that.” You hadn’t skimped on telling Steve you loved him, because he didn’t have anyone to tell him they did. “Where’s that tea at?”

You took your linked hands and dragged him towards the table in the middle of your room, where your laptop and two cups of tea sat. You handed him a mug (since you didn’t have proper tea cups… you were gonna have to go shopping with your mom for tea cups) and took your own, sipping from it and taking in the flavor. You made your tea with milk and sugar, so it was the perfect combination of creamy and sweet.

“I didn’t know if you wanted milk or sugar in your tea, so I didn’t put any in.” He nodded, setting his tea against the table before sitting down. You followed suit, sitting beside him and smiling softly.

“You’re sweet enough for me.”

You sputtered, then laughed loudly, “Careful, Steve, the nineteen-forties in you is showing.” He didn’t catch the joke, instead staring down at you curiously. You smiled again, leaning against him. You whispered softly, “I miss you when you’re gone.”

“I know.” He pressed a kiss to your hair. “I still owe you that date, don’t I?” You nodded, looking up at him. “Would it be bad to skip the date and just say that I love you too?” You grinned widely.

“Nah, not bad at all. I actually wasn’t expecting you to say it at all. At least, not for a while. You’re still recovering from the whole Bucky ordeal, and I didn’t want to try and force you into saying anything you didn’t want to say because, like, consent in relationships and love and garbage like that is important because it shows respect and I love you and I respect you and--” He cut you off with a chuckle.

“You’re adorable when you ramble.” This stopped your ramblings, and your face exploded into a blush. He had never called you adorable before. Like, never ever. Cute? Maybe. But you didn’t remember him ever calling you adorable. He looked down. “Can I kiss you?”

“Mister Rogers, such a gentleman!” You smiled up at him, knowing the blush was still on your cheeks. “But yeah, do it.”

He leaned down, pressing his lips against yours and holding your head steady. His palm was calloused as he held the side of your head. His lips were soft and warm, and they still felt perfect. Slowly, his hand dropped from your head to your shoulder. You decided to tease the man a bit, so you slid your tongue out and traced across his bottom lip. He pulled away, and you noticed that his cheeks were a little rosy.

“Awww! You’re blushing.”

“I am not.”

“Are too!”

“Did you just try to kiss me with tongue?”

“Hell yeah. Say tongue again.”

“Tongue?”

You shivered; for some reason, hearing him say that was incredibly sexy. “Okay, I’m good. But yeah.” You kissed his nose, “You’re cute.” You flopped back onto the floor, not caring that your shirt flopped up and revealed your stomach. Steve looked away, cheeks still a bit rosy. “Cute!”

“Stop calling me cute!”

“Or what, Mister Rogers? Will you have me arrested for embarrassing Captain America?” you responded, sounding ‘know-it-all’-y. He picked his mug up, drinking the tea within it. You sat back up, grabbing your mug and drinking the milky tea in it. When he put his mug down, you put your mug down.

He wiped the skin on your upper lip, “You’ve got milk on your lip.” You flushed again.

“If you keep being this cute I’m gonna have to tackle you with kisses.” He rolled his eyes. “I’m serious. I’ll do it. I’ll kiss you ‘til you’re blue.”

The joking mood fell when he looked at you with serious eyes and said, “Do it.”

So that’s what you did. You grabbed him by the front of his white t-shirt and pulled him to you. You pressed your lips against his, trying to find a rhythm. After a few moments of him refusing to kiss you back, you crawled into his lap, your back bumping into the coffee (tea and laptop) table. You tilted his head back, kissing him with a passion you didn’t know you had. His hands came to your hips, holding onto you as he kissed you back. You nipped his lip, and he groaned slightly. His tongue slid out, into your mouth, and you shivered at the feeling. Captain America, _Steven Grant Rogers_ , was kissing you. With tongue. Hell yeah.

JARVIS chose that moment to speak up. “Miss (L/Name), Mister Stark has requested your presence in the garage. He has gotten a new car and would like for you to see it.”

“JARVIS.” You sounded absolutely pissed, and Steve frowned. “Is now really a good time?”

“He is requesting you.”

“I’m making out, man.”

“I shall let him know that Mister Rogers has returned.”

You looked back at Steve, leaning forward and pressing another kiss to his nose. He looked disgruntled. “Tony wants to show you his car?”

“Look, dude, Pepper’s been out and I’m typically the only other person in the tower that’s chill with staring at his wealth.” You smirked, “My God, you really are jealous! We aren’t even an official couple and you’re jealous!”

“Hey! ...Is that bad?” You giggled, pressing a quick kiss to his lips.

“Not at all, Captain.” He shivered from that. “Oh my God, do you get turned on when people call you Cap when you’re out of uniform?”

“Just you.”

“SO YOU DO GET TURNED ON.”

“Miss (L/Name),” JARVIS piped back up, “Mister Stark is--”

Tony slammed open your door, “Is Capsicle finally getting some action!?”

Steve groaned.


	28. Do not want

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor shows up. Great.

Standing in the middle of the training room at Tony’s tower, you pulled four large water tendrils from the water in your belt and used them to knock dummies over. You heard the ‘pop pop pop!’ of a gun being fired, and you forced the tendrils to form into a shield around you. The bullets were absorbed into the water, and the dummies popped back up. Their torsos opened up, revealing small guns, and they shot at you. You forced your shield to move with you as you inched towards one. Then you spun, the water tendrils separating and smacking the dummies back to the floor.

A round of applause came over the speakers, and you looked around. Last you had checked, you were the only one in the training room and there was no one in behind the one-way window. “Yo?” you asked, hoping that the audio from the training room was being transmitted to the spectator’s room.

“Ah, (F/Name), you’ve come so far! You don’t suck _nearly_ as much as when you first got here!” You rolled your eyes at Tony’s voice, but looked at the one-way window and waved. “I’m waving back. I know you can’t see that, but I am.”

“Thanks, Tony.” You shrugged your shoulders, walking towards the door to the spectator’s room as your water flowed back into your belt. The dummies moved, the walls opening up and taking them in as you walked out. Tony stood, a glass of something that looked mysteriously like whiskey. You quirked a brow, “Isn’t it a bit early to be drinking, you drunk?” It was his turn to roll his eyes. “I mean, what could’ve gotten you to fucking drink at--JARVIS, what time is it?”

“Three thirty-nine, Miss (L/Name).”

“Thanks dude. But seriously,” you looked at him, seeing the quirk in his brow and the smirk on his face. “Oh, God, that look is never a good look. What happened?”

“Well, your boyfriend is currently entertaining ‘what happened.’” You frowned, not understanding what he was hinting at. What happened was a person? What?

“So… who is what happened?” you asked.

Tony groaned, “Seriously!? Seriously! You’re not gonna slap me for calling Cap your boyfriend!?” He sounded dejected and upset. “You always get pissed when I call him that!”

You shrugged. “You call him my boyfriend every chance you get. It kinda gets old, man.” You grinned at him, loving the fact that his shoulders slumped and he rolled his eyes again. He groaned exaggeratedly when you said, “I didn’t realize slapping you was such a turn on, Tony. I’ll make sure to tell Pepper.”

“It’s not a turn on! I just--I can tell when I’m under your skin when you slap me!” he said dramatically.

“You act like I slap you so often, dude bro.” You unclipped your belt, holding it in one hand while your other grabbed a towel and wrapped it around your neck. He mumbled some obscenities as you walked out, following you. You stopped in the hallway when you heard a big, booming voice. “Oh no.” Your confused tone brought an evil grin to his face. He pushed you towards the kitchen with one hand, taking a sip of his whiskey with the other.

There in all his gross height and manly blondness stood Thor, staring down at you with a wide smile. “Ah! Lady Aqua is here as well!” You grinned at the man, dropping your water belt and running towards him. Despite the fact that you and he hadn’t really associated when he was last on Earth, you enjoyed his presence immensely.

“Thor!” He caught you in a hug. You pulled away, smiling up at the gargantuan man. He smiled back down at you. “Woah, man, did you get bigger?” you asked sarcastically.

“No, no I did not.” It had gone over his head. You didn’t mind. “I have heard great things from Steven!” You raised a brow at this, moving to look behind him. Steve stood there, paling slightly but maintaining a small smile. What did he say? “You and he have finally confessed your feelings to one another!”

You laughed, “Yup.” He grinned at you, obviously pleased with your answer. Did Steve seriously think you’d be angry with him for that? Pfft, nah. All the Avengers knew you and he were an unofficial item (neither of you had asked the other out… haha?), but Thor had been gone, so he was the last to know. You pat the tall man on the arm, signaling for him to let you go. He did just that, arms releasing you almost immediately. “What’re you doing here, buddy?”

His grin fell, “I have come to request your aid in finding Loki’s scepter.”

You tilted your head in confusion, “Dude, what?”

Tony spoke up with a chuckle, “Oh man. He needs our help, (F/Name). The evil scientists have been using it to try and make mutants.” You reeled around, staring at the dark-haired man with wide eyes.

“Why am I just now hearing of this?”

“Because I just got a call from Sam.” You twisted your body around to stare at Steve. “While he was looking for Buck, he… he found a HYDRA base that had traces of Loki’s scepter in it. There were a lot of kids there. They were all dead or near it. They didn’t take well to the mutations.”

You blinked, then raised your hands in a ‘wait’ motion. “So you’re telling me… Thor appeared after you got a call saying Loki’s scepter was up to no good?” He nodded. “Well fuck man. We gotta find that shit. Kids dying is never a good thing.” Steve rolled his eyes. “I’m not being sarcastic! Kids shouldn’t be dying, dude! I do not want that! I’m offended that you would even _think_ I was being sarcastic about that!” You crossed your arms and huffed. Then, after a few seconds of pouting, you asked, “Will Nat, Clint, and Bruce be helping us find the scepter?”

Tony grinned, “The Avengers have got to assemble, right?”

“Hell yeah.” You jumped. “Avengers, assemble! We got some kids to save!”


	29. One does not simply saunter into a Stark party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas is here! And with it are drunk parents.

It was snowing in New York City, and it was Christmas time. That alone should’ve made you happy. But no, what did make you happy was the fact that Tony had invited your parents to the Avengers tower for his Christmas party. It was small; it was just going to be for the Avengers and a couple agents, their significant others, and family. You hadn’t planned on going until your mother called you, crying happily about how she and your father were going to a Stark party.

So you had to get dressed up on Christmas Eve. And it sucked. Typically, you would’ve been wrapped up in your bed and watching the snow on Christmas Eve, but that was thrown out the window. Sighing, you pulled out a dark green dress and a red jacket. Your mother had taken you shopping for this night. Your father, on the other hand, was as excited for it as you were. And you both loved her dearly, so you weren’t going to spoil it for her.

You tugged the dress on, struggling to get the black tights on your legs after the green fabric was pulled over your head. You glanced in the big mirror that Tony had given you as a joke (“(F/Name), sweetie… have you looked in the mirror lately?” You had smacked the shit out of him.) nodding at what you saw. You had yet to do your hair, so it hung limply around your face. And you hadn’t done makeup…

No, you weren’t gussying up for Steve. Okay? Okay maybe that was a lie but hey! He’s seen you at you worst, now it’s time for him to see you at your best! What was wrong with that? Oh yeah, your parents had no idea you and he were an unofficial item. Shiiiiiit. You had really forgotten to keep in touch with them over the last couple years.

A knock came from your door, and you turned to look at it. Maybe if you were quiet they would go away. Another knock. Then another. They were evenly spaced, but were becoming a bit more persistent each time. It was Steve. Fuck.

“Yoooooo?” The door opened, and there he stood, decked out in a black sports blazer, a dark green button down, and khakis. You smiled at him, thinking he looked incredibly cute, before walking over to your mirror and grabbing your flat iron. You wanted your hair to look perfect. “You weren’t supposed to see me ‘til I was done,” you said offhandedly.

“You already look beautiful.” You grinned stupidly at yourself in the mirror, lifting up your iron and grabbing a piece of hair. He was so cute. Steve walked towards you, standing behind you and watching as you diligently straightened your long hair.

“I’m thinking ‘bout cutting all my hair off soon.” You were hoping that would spark a conversation. It did.

“Why? Your long hair is pretty.” You shrugged, continuing to straighten it. “I mean, I think you’d look cute with short hair. It was the style.” You smirked and chuckled lightly.

Your eyes found his in the mirror, and you purposefully turned around to look at him evenly. “‘It was the style?’” With a shit-eating grin, you said saucily, “Do you want me to have a cute little forties bob, Steve?” He looked away and you swore his cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Your grin widened. “Oh, you’re so cute!” You stood on your tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “The most adorable superhero.”

“Please stop.” He sounded embarrassed. It caused you to chuckle again. You turned back around to look at the mirror, and you two stood in silence as you finished your hair. When it was sufficiently straightened you nodded to yourself. Now, it was time for makeup.

“Red or mauve?” you asked, digging through the little makeup you owned. You only wore it for parties, so it made sense that you had very little. But, three years ago (before you were an Avenger), you had an obsession with lipstick. So you owned thirteen different shades of the shit.

“What?” he asked. You looked at him as you pinned your bangs back, smiling devilishly. You applied most of your makeup--a little foundation and powder, blush, eyeshadow and mascara. Then you turned to him with the two containers in your hands. “Red…” You lifted the container in the right hand up. “Or mauve?” You lifted the container in your left hand up. He looked between the two.

“What do you think would look good on _me_?” You stared up at him, obviously not expecting his comment. Did he want? What the hell that comment was really sensual. Like, the implications behind it were hot. But, he had said it with sincerity and surprising naivety. “I mean, you’re going to end up drunk tonight, as you do whenever you go to a Tony party. And whatever lipstick you wear always ends up on me somehow.”

“Steve.” You looked down at the containers in your hand. “I thought you were implying something very different.” You grinned before setting the containers against his cheeks. After looking between them, you nodded. “Red. Definitely red.” So you turned around and applied it. It smoothed over your bottom lip, then you pursed your lips and touched up what the excess missed. Turning back to him with a small smile, you asked, “Well, my mom and dad should be here soon. Shall we go greet them?”

He nodded, watching as you pulled on and tied the small jacket (or maybe a cape with sleeves? It tied really weirdly) around your neck. Then you leaned down and searched for a pair of red flats. Once you found them, you slipped your feet into them. You grabbed a matching red clutch (your mother had really gone all out on your outfits) before you extended your hand to him. His fingers slipped between yours, and you tugged him out of your room and towards the elevator. As you got inside it, you pulled your phone from the clutch and saw that you had a text from your mom.

_where should ur dad n i park??_   
_nvm we found a spot_   
_were heading towards the building rn_

That last text was a couple minutes old. As the elevator’s doors opened, you saw your mom and dad standing in the lobby of the Avengers tower looking around in awe. You waved to your mother. She waved back, bouncing on her heels excitedly. “(F/Name)!” she squealed, running up towards you. She nodded in Steve’s direction with a happy, “Hello again, Steve!”

“Hello, Mrs.(L/Name).” She grinned widely at his politeness. Your dad slumped towards the elevator, hands shoved in his pockets. “Mr.(L/Name).” Steve nodded in his direction.

“Your mom made me wear a freakin’ stupid tie.” He gestured to the Christmas tree tie he wore. “Like? What the hell.”

“Markus! Language! We’re going to be in the company of the Avengers, and we need to represent ourselves properly.” You rolled your eyes, smiling and clicking the button that would take you guys back up to the correct floor.

“I’m certain (F/Name)’s already told them all about us, honey.” He rolled his eyes, but stopped when he saw something. “Steve Rogers… Not that I don’t think you’re not _worthy_ of it or anything… But are you holding my daughter’s hand?” Oh shit. Shit.

Steve apparently did not get the whole ‘I’m an overprotective dad’ thing, because he answered with a peppy, “Yessir!” Your dad blinked up at him, then at you, before shrugging his shoulders. The tenseness in his voice dropped.

“Oh sweet! Such a freaking gentleman. Makin’ sure my girl gets around safely and shit.”

“Markus!”

“I’m sorry it just slips out! Don’t smack me with your clutch! Ow ow ow! Honey, that hurts!”


	30. Assuming direct control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Christmas! Your parents are at home, safely recovering from their hangovers from Tony's party, and you're singing Christmas songs!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk man but i needed a chapter title
> 
> Also! Elise, who is the sweetest human being ever, is now my beta. Everyone be nice to her, she's making sure these future chapters are the best they can be!

Steve has been walking down the hallway when he first heard your singing voice. Your door was cracked open a bit, and he nudged it slightly to peek his head in. You were standing in front of your mirror, trying to clip on the water drop pendant your parents had given you the previous night. It was now officially Christmas and everyone was out of the tower. He had even thought you were gone. Turned out he was wrong.

“ _I really can’t stay,_ ” your voice was a little shaky (by no means professional), but you were able to carry the tune wonderfully. “I’ve got to ‘way,” you continued, glossing over the duet part with a humm. “ _This evening has been… So very nice!_ ” Steve watched as you danced, and then the song you were singing dawned on him. He had heard it during his deployment. “ _My mother will start to worry… My father will be pacin’ the floor… So really I’d better scurry... Oh, maybe just a half a drink more!_ ”

You were trying to clip the necklace still so he walked in to help you. Your voice, while still shaky and unnurtured, was very pretty. “ _The neighbors might think!_ ” You squeaked, looking over your shoulder when he grabbed the clip and did it for you.

“ **Baby it’s bad out there.** ” He wasn’t a singer either, but he decided to join you. You grinned widely, touching the necklace on your chest with one hand and poking his chest with the other.

“ _Say, what’s in this drink?_ ” You pushed him towards the door, smiling all the while. Steve noticed that you were drawing water from the air and creating snowflakes.

“ **No cabs to be had out there.** ” He started to walk towards you, pushing you back towards the mirror. Your grin faltered when you tripped over something on the floor, but it returned when he snatched you up before you could fall. Your hands were latched on his shoulders, and he had you wrapped in your arms.

“ _I wish I knew how…_ ”

“ **Your eyes are like starlight, now.** ”

“ _To break this spell!_ ” Steve could tell that you were starting to lose it, because you occasionally snorted.

“ **I’ll take your hat, your hair looks swell.** ”

“ _I ought to say no, no, no, sir._ ”

He leaned in, nose touching yours. “ **Mind if I move in closer?** ”

You pushed his face away, laughing as you sang, “ _At least I’m gonna say that I tried._ ”

“ **What’s the sense of hurtin’ my pride?** ” You pressed a kiss to his cheek, sliding out of his grasp and laughing. 

“ _I really can’t stay--_ ”

“ **Baby don’t hold out--** ”

“ _ **Baby it’s cold outside.**_ ”

At that, you lost it. You doubled over, laughing loudly. “Oh my good God, Steven Rogers, you truly are the best!” You continued to laugh, standing up straight and rubbing away the tears that had gathered in the corners of your eyes. “The cutest superhero, for sure.” You walked towards him, kissing his cheek again before saying, “Captain America can sing? Someone call the tabloids, I have another story for them!”

He blushed, embarrassed, rubbing the back of his head. “Please don’t.” You chuckled, looking up at him. The line ‘your eyes are like starlight’ came to mind specifically because it looked like you had stars in your eyes. They sparkled under the black lights in your room.

A feeling that could only be described as love came over him. He cupped the side of your face, pressing a firm kiss to your lips. When you two pulled away, he said, “I’m sorry, but you looked very beautiful just now.”

Your cheeks flushed a bright red, and the snowflakes that had been falling fell to the ground as water. Steve knew that you could typically take compliments well (at least when they were jokingly said), but apparently the sincerity in his voice caused you embarrassment. And apparently embarrassment melts your ice back into water.

He leaned back down, kissing you deeply. You wrapped your arms around his neck, playing with the fine hair beside his ears. The kiss was warm, something you both loved. He started to push you back towards your bed, and you willingly let him. When the back of your legs hit the bed, you fell backwards, long hair splaying everywhere and (E/Color) eyes sparkling up at him. Your lips were bruised a bright red from the passion behind the kiss.

“Steve?” He looked down at your form, feeling something warm grow in him. You sat up, face meeting his stomach, but you looked back up at him. “Steve?” you repeated.

“Yeah?”

You took his hand into yours, pulling him down. It should’ve taken a lot more to pull him into bed beside you, but he wasn’t really trying not to. When he laid beside you, you snuggled next to him. You pressed another kiss to his jaw, running your nose over his cheek as you did so. “Merry Christmas, Steve.” You yawned, sliding your legs in between his and setting your hand in the middle of his chest. He knew that his heart was beating quickly, but he didn’t mind that in the least.

“Merry Christmas, (F/Name).”


	31. Fuck yeah

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fuck yeah, the world needs more super heroines.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I accidentally dropped Elise's OC, Hannah/The Flame, into the story. Plus side, you get a sick ass new bff.

It was New Year’s Eve and you wanted a fucking pizza. Tony had thrown a little hissy fit when you called your favorite pizza joint, stating that ‘their pizza couldn’t live up to the professional chef’s’ and ‘why do you want some shitty pizza?’ You had continued to give them the order, ignoring his whining.

Steve had an arm thrown over the back of the couch, which left you a warm and inviting spot beside him after you finished the call. Collapsing beside him, you sighed and curled into him. He wrapped an arm around you (you couldn’t tell if it was on purpose or reflex) and drew you into his side. Tony, who hadn’t stopped complaining, noticed this. “Ew, gross, get a freakin’ room.” You raised a brow at him, then looked at where Steve’s hand laid on your shoulder.

“Why don’t YOU get a room?” you shot back. It was childish, but then again that’s what you were known for. His unimpressed stare got a very heated response. “Fight me, Tony. I’ll slam dunk your ass with water.”

His shoulders squared into the cocky stance he was known for. “Oh, is that a declaration of war, _Aqua_?” His voice dripped sarcasm. You stood up and walked over to him, standing firm as you poked him in the chest. Despite the playfulness you two shared, your “fights” could escalate into someone getting a dislocated shoulder. (Yes, that has happened. And yes, it was you. Fucking Tony’s Iron Man suit was ridiculous.)

“It is a declaration of war, Mister Stark.” You pointed to the karaoke machine that sat in the corner. Quick thinking and wanting to hear him sing led you to choosing that. You had never heard Tony sing and you had a feeling it was hilarious. “Karaoke battle.”

Tony laughed. The other Avengers chose that moment to meander out of the kitchen, assorted snacks in their hands. “What’s happening?” one Clint Barton asked. Your group had just returned from another mission, so everyone was still at the tower.

Steve sighed, “They’re going to have a sing-off.” This got a snort from Natasha and a calm sigh from Bruce. You were, of course, the baby of the Avengers and everyone found you adorable. It was a gift and a curse at times. Gift: puppy dog face got you anything you wanted. Curse: if you did anything semi-stupid during a mission, everyone got on your ass.

Annnnnyways.

Raising your hands above your head, you let out and excited, “Hell yeah we are, baby! Singing is the best.” You skipped over to the karaoke machine (Tony never did tell you why he owned it) and pressed a few buttons. It beeped and booped and you had no idea if you turned it on. “Tooooooooooooony.”

“What, buttercup?” Always with the pet-names.

“Am I figuring this thing out? I’m so confused on how to turn it on.”

“I don’t know, _are_ you figuring out how to turn it on?” came his sassy response.

You rolled your eyes and smiled, bending over to look at the screen. There was a wolf-whistle and you turned around with a smirk. “See something you like?” Being a set of ‘flirt’ friends (as you liked to call your relationship with Tony), hearing a wolf-whistle was nothing you weren’t familiar with. What you weren’t familiar with was a jealous Steve, who you caught looking nonplussed out of the corner of your eye. Ignoring the look he was giving you, you grabbed a microphone and shook your hips. “‘Cause these hips don’t lie, Tony.”

“Hell yeah they don’t.” You laughed and turned around.

This apparently set your (idk? you two still weren’t official) boyfriend off, because he stood up and yanked the microphone from your hand. “Steve?” you gave him a confused but delighted look. Was he going to sing? You fucking hoped he was going to sing.

“Karaoke battle. You,” he pointed to Tony, then to himself, “Me.” This got a collection of confused looks, but Natasha snorted. Your phone chose that moment to vibrate, a call coming through. You picked it up and walked towards the elevator. Knowing the time, it was probably the pizza place.

Swiping to the answer button, a strong voice came through. “Hello? Is this (F/Name) (L/Name)?” It was a female voice, and somewhere in the back of your mind you thought you had heard it before.

“Yup! Are you at the tower with the pizza?” You pulled the phone from your ear when she gave you an affirmative yes, “JARVIS, lobby, please.”

“Of course.” The elevator started to move.

“I’ll be down in a sec, sweetheart!” With that, you hung up your phone. The elevator dinged after a few more seconds, signaling that it had arrived. When the doors opened, your eyes widened. “Oh my God.” In front of you stood the pizza girl from a couple years ago. Her bright blue eyes sparkled up at you (a fact you didn’t know you remembered) from behind a wild mane of long blonde hair. She looked at you hopefully, her smile widening when you said, “You’re the girl from a couple years ago!” Running towards her, you pulled her up into a hug. (Apparently her insight was great, because she set the pizza box on the receptionist counter before you crushed her.) “Oh my God, how are you??”

She laughed, patting your back until you pulled away. Looking up at you, she pulled off her hat and ran a hand through her hair. “I’m good, I’m good. I don’t wanna sound creepy or anything, but when I heard that there was an order for a flyin’ Hawaiian at the tower, I had a feelin’ it was you.” You grinned widely, watching her as she put the hat back on her head. She looked no older than twenty-three. Reading her nametag, which proudly stated _Hannah_ across it, you did a little happy dance.

“I had no idea it was you! Oh my God, this is so fucking cool!” You continued to do your little happy dance. Then you stopped, looking at her with wide, worried eyes. “Did those guys hurt you? Like, did you get repaid for any damages by S.H.I.E.L.D.? Because if not I’m certain Tony would be chill--”

A bullet shot rang through the air, and before you could think you had a water shield over the both of you. You looked at Hannah, seeing a determined glare on her face. “Lower your shield.” You blinked at her stupidly. “Lower the shield, Aqua, I have something to show you!” You hesitantly did so, but kept the water on standby for another one.

Flames licked at her feet as she walked towards the unknown enemy. You stared in awe. She used smooth, lithe motions similar to the way you danced with water; that was her with fire The flames covered her hands as she gathered her strength (or courage. You knew first hand how terrifying it could be to show someone new your powers).

The enemy came crashing through the window just as Hannah powered up a fireball. She unleashed it at him, knocking him back quite a bit. He didn’t go down, though. You gathered the water back up, slamming it at the man with a force only someone 100% confident in their abilities could manage.

That sent him down. Once you were certain that the man was out, you spun on your heels and ran towards Hannah. She stared at you hesitantly, rubbing her arm. “Ever since that day, I’ve idolized you. I wanted to master my powers the way you mastered yours, so I hope you’re not too mad that I kinda… stole your fucking awesome moves!” She started to bounce up and down. “This is the best night ever, for real! I got to reconnect with you AND show you my powers!”

You stared at her, still in awe. Then, you grabbed her for a hug. “Awww, Hannah, you’re so cute! This is awesome! So awesome! Another girl superhero!!” You two shared a happy dance, bouncing up and down.

Steve came crashing through the stairwell door at that moment, shield in hand. Tony was behind him with a karaoke microphone, then Natasha, then Clint, then Thor and Bruce. They looked ready to pounce. You were still hugging the blonde excitedly. They all took a collective breath when they saw you were safe. “We heard glass shatter.”

“Oh that? Just a baddie trying to kill me. But my cute little Flame here stopped him!” You poked at her cheeks. She giggled, trying to get out of your embrace.

“You helped too, Aqua!” You two continued to dote on each other while everyone else just stood there, confused.

After an awkward moment of watching the developing bromance (or would it be sismance?), Tony asked, “Who the hell is Flame?”

You looked at him, “This beautiful young lady right here! She’s the Flame! She’s super cool!” You two did another happy dance. “She’s saved my ass!”

“How exactly did she save your ass?” Steve questioned.

“Show ‘em, Hannah.” Hesitantly, the blonde stepped forward. Fire licked at her heels as she called forth a large, phoenix-shaped flame before her. You laughed excitedly, clapping. “She’s the fire to my ice!” The Avengers stood, watching the fiery bird dissipate.

Thor was the first to speak up after the bird was gone. “On Asgard, we would call these two chaotic goddesses.”

Tony smirked, “On Earth, we’d call these two fucking crazy.”


End file.
